Aunt P's Apparent

Things i want to get done in 2012

2012-01-02T20:43:00.003-05:00

So it's been 9 months since I last wrote anything... Come on now! Its not as if that is the longest break I've ever taken! At least I always come back!

A few things have changed. The little man is now two and I'm 38 weeks pregnant (tomorrow) with number two. But that's not the point of this post. This post is intended to document some of the things I'd like to achieve in 2012. Most of these things just highlight what a procrastinator I am, but that's already well documented here so what the hell.

In no particular order:

1. Order my wedding album. It's only been 5+ years after all...
2. Fill out Callum's baby book. He's not getting any younger and my memory isn't as good as it used to be...
3. Order and keep up with baby #2's baby book.
4. Wear at least tinted moisturizer and mascara to work when I go back (note: probably should update/replace my old make-up)
5. Run a 5K. Always wanted to do this
6. Put wedding dress in for dry cleaning/be preserved. See #1
7. Purge clothes closet. Let's face it. Even if I get back into those little sizes, the chances are the clothes are not in style and/or aren't appropriate for this stage of life
8. Purge other closets! Actually just declutter the whole damn house!
9. Read 12 books.
10. Find something to do with each child so they each get quality mommy time. Daddy too.
11. Be nicer to my husband. He's a good guy and I can be too hard on him.
12. Walk the dog more often. Poor Chester has been the victim of the growing demands of the kids and career and he deserves a little attention too. After all he is family.

There is more I could put but 12 for '12 seems like enough. Seems like too much really, but hopefully a few of them will be quick wins. And they aren't terribly out there - it's not as if I said I'd do my hair before work everyday or something ridiculous like that!

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy 2012,

The scale didn't budge, but I did!

2011-03-01T10:20:00.003-05:00

I should be disappointed that I didn't lose any weight this week, but I can't be. I am too much in awe that I'm on week 6 of the c25k program! Seriously, you don't understand. I never finish ANYTHING and I know. I haven't finished this yet, but I've never made it past week 3 before and here I am on week 6. And not just week 6, I've already done day 1 and day 2 of week 6. It's absolutely crazy!

So what do I think of the program? I'm not really sure. I don't love running, yet I look forward to doing it. Maybe I'm just looking forward to the time by myself? It's certainly not the view while because I'm doing the program on a treadmill in the basement where I essentially stare at a concrete wall, but at least I'm doing it. And dare I say I'm proud of myself for sticking with it this long.

Blair asked what made losing weight a priority -- what finally made it click for you. For me it was looking at pictures, or really not wanting to be in pictures. This is such a special time for my family and I find myself not wanting to be in pictures with my son because I don't want to look fat in them. And even when I do give in and take a picture rather remembering the moment or thinking how cute my son looks I'm instead critiquing how I look and I don't want that any more. So pictures are my click.

Until next week...

Death sucks, but I ran for 8 minutes!

2011-02-21T13:12:00.003-05:00

Last week I was in a funk and didn't feel like checking in. Death does that to you. For the second time in three years I helped a grade school friend bury their mother. I don't think I'll ever be ready to lose my parents, but these women sure the hell shouldn't be dying in their 60's leaving grandbabies that they couldn't wait to arrive and then to be robbed by only having a brief few months/years with. This time it was a woman who bravely fought cancer for over 20 years. She isn't in pain anymore and for that I'm thankful. And it while it may not have been the most reverent way to send her off, trust me to say it was fitting when I went after the wake with my sister and brother and drank to her honor and went out for a few more drinks with my best friends of 30 years, my sister and my dad to toast her again after her funeral.

A pretty somber way to start my McFatty Monday post, but if nothing else let it be a reminder to be nice to your mom.

Back to McFatty. Four weeks on Nutrisystem and I'm down 8lbs even! There was a bit of a set back while I was going through my funk, but I'm pleased. What I'm super-duper thrilled with is the fact that even during my funk I stuck with the C25K program. I just finished Week 5, Day 2 which means that I ran (ok, maybe it's more of a trot) for 8 minutes straight. And not once, but TWICE! I have started this program multiple times and this is the first time I made it to week 4 and now I'm halfway through week 5! Holy shit! I'm going to do it this time! (can't lie though, I'm petrified of W5D3 which is 20 minutes straight of running)

So in summary death sucks. Love your momma. Nurtrisystem rocks. And I'm going to finish the C25K program!

Until next week.

Second Week on NutriSystem and another loss!

2011-02-07T07:57:00.004-05:00

What a week! My husband was away, we got hit with another snowstorm and I got called into a bunch of early-evening meetings that required me to walk around the first floor of my house in circles while carrying my son because it was his cranky time of night while on a conference call and praying that every time I un-muted the phone to speak that neither the dog or the baby would make a noise. Ugh!!!!!!!!

And I almost forgot! We lost power and I had to experience changing a diaper by flashlight!

This was totally the week I wanted to order take-out Chinese/Thai/Subs/Pizza/whatever! My stress level was off the chart and I needed comfort food! But you know what? I didn't really need. Did I want it? Hell to the yes! [huh. I'm not sure that writes as well as it sounds when I say it in my head...] But I didn't need it. This was my second week of NutriSystem and I was determined to see it through. So I ate my pre-packaged meals with salads, fruits, dairy and proteins. I completed week 2 of C25K and started week three. I drank water -- not all of it every day, but I made a good effort and I shoveled. What does shoveling have to do with any of it? Well it's exercise, but other than that I just wanted to say I did it because it sucked and for all my effort we were still left with ice on the drive and walkways!

And I saw results.

I know I won't see results every week, but I won't lie. It was nice to get it as a confidence boost this week. I lost 3.4 lbs, bringing my two week total to 6lbs! I'm so very excited! And I can already start to notice a difference in my pants already! NutriSystem probably isn't for everyone, but it's working really well for me so far and I think the C25K program is a great compliment. I'm confident that if I stick with both of them I'm really going to see some great results.

Until next week...

Not a whoosh, but I'll take it!

2011-01-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

1 week on Nutrisystem and I'm down 2.4lbs! Maybe it's not the whoosh loss of 5lbs that I dreamed of, but I very happy. All and all it was a good week. I might have slipped a time or two (a glass of wine with friends and a beer Saturday night with my sister), but for the most part I was an ideal Nutrisystem newbie and I'm happy with the results. And just to brag, I completed Week 1 of C25K and did Day 1 of week 2 yesterday.

So what do I think of it? I like it, but I do find it hard to eat everything I'm supposed to at the times I'm supposed to. My work day is somewhat crazy between switching buildings and the ridiculous amounts of meetings and I find that I'm sometimes eating lunch when I should be enjoying my afternoon snack, which then pushes my snack back. Now pre-Nutrisystem there wasn't an afternoon snack where I would instead eat my lunch so I'd just skip lunch, eat nothing (including not eating breakfast) and wonder why I couldn't stop binge snacking as soon as I got through the door.

My other may thought has been only smokes this is a lot of vegetables and fruit! Which just reinforces that I have been eating like crap. I guess it's not surprising that I've been struggling with my weight...

I'm actually looking forward to continuing on Nutrisystem this week. Who da thunk it?

Until next week...

Trying something different

2011-01-25T12:08:00.000-05:00

So much for focusing on my blog in 2011! But rather than dwell on it, I’m going to focus on the positive. I’m blogging today and that’s better than yesterday!

Continuing with the positive, I’ve decided to take control of my eating and my health which will hopefully impact my weight. The Saturday before last I sat on my couch drinking some wine and placed my order for Nutrisystem Select (because all big decisions in life should be made while drinking some wine!). Why Nutrisystem? Nutrisystem is attractive to me because it will reduce (hopefully eliminate!) poor food decisions – it’s way too easy at the end of the day to order subs (grinders, hoagies, whatever you choose to call them) or pizza or just throw together the quickest thing I can find which is usually not the best for me. It will also help force portion control and get me ~~back~~ into the habit of eating vegetables and using fruit, proteins and dairy as snacks rather than the delicious processed food that has become a staple for me.

The first batch of food was delivered on Thursday and I made the decision to start on Saturday so that I’d be able to stock up at the grocery store for the fruits and vegetables I’d need to go along with the program. I also decided that I would start the C25K program again (and by again I mean that I think this is the 6^th time I’m starting restarting it – can you say issues with finishing what I start?).

So here I am 3 full days in. Day 1 I was a rock star! I stuck to the program and started C25K. The food was better than I thought and I seemed to be eating all day – probably because I was focusing on it. I liked the cereal, the cheesy potatoes were ok and I really liked flatbread pizza especially with the addition of some red peppers to it!

Day 2 we ran into issues – a baby shower. I went in with a plan, but the plan failed me. How does a buffet NOT have salad? Or ANY type of vegetables? I made ok choices since I was starving. Said no to the French Toast that everyone was raving about, avoided the bread bowl and baked ziti and ordered sparking water instead of the booze that is typically the only thing that gets me through a shower without taking a fork to my eye! But in hindsight I could have been better.

Day 3 we were back on track and I did the 2^nd day of C25K program which was harder for me than day 1.

And here we are on Day 4 – the scale shows 2lbs down, but I’ll wait until Saturday to see how the full week went. I’m encouraged though – so far so good!

I don’t plan to be on Nutrisystems forever, but I needed to do something to get started. To see results and also train myself on what my dinner plate should look like. Breastfeeding your child is wonderful, but those extra 500 calories (or something like that) are hard to give up once you’ve stopped.

Until next week!

First Monday of the New Year

2011-01-03T22:06:00.003-05:00

It's Monday and for most Mondays of 2010 that meant McFatty Monday. You'd think that after a year I'd be at my goal. Or at least close to my goal. Unfortunately that is not the case. I did great the first half of the year and even hit my goal weight. For a day. Maybe two.

So here we are in 2011 and I've put on most (maybe all?) of the weight I lost last year. I don't have a ton of weight to lose, but I am overweight and it's not the example I want to set for my son. Looking back on the last year I can now recognize that I've fallen into the trap that a lot of parents do. I've been finishing my son's food. On top of that my snacking has gotten out of control and I've stopped pretty much all activity that would pass for exercise.

So where does this leave me? With a lot of lifestyle changes to make especially since we really want to try for another baby this year and I want to start this pregnancy at a healthy weight. My initial plan is to just start with the basics. Start drinking water again and introduce some exercise into my week. As for food, I know my hardest time is after work so I'm going to have to figure out a way to curb my pre-dinner snacking. Once I get these things under control I will get more ambitions (I will finish the C25k program if it kills me in 2011!)

I forgot to weigh myself this morning -- I know sounds like a convenient excuse, but there was a good reason. I was distracted. No! Not that. Get your mind out of the gutter! It was because I snuck out before the boys were up to walk our dog. It sucks, especially since it was still dark out, but it's what I need to do. I'll be sure to weigh myself tomorrow morning.

Until next status...

Actually before I go, I decided to make 2011 the year I attempt to blog, so if you'd like to see my kick-off post and learn a bit more about me, click here.

My Dilemma. BFing or Baby #2

2011-01-02T09:12:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to breastfeed Callum forever. I know this. It would be very embarrassing if I had to go to sleep away camp with him or worse yet, try to move into his college dorm! I'm shocked I'm still breastfeeding him at 15 months. I never thought we'd make it to a year and even if we did, a year was the plan. No more.

Breastfeeding was really hard in the beginning, but we got through it and I think that is part of the reason that I haven't weaned him yet. He's not exclusively breastfed anymore. He takes milk in his sippy cups during the day, but I still nurse him first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I know it's good for him, especially through the New England winter months when it's cold and miserable and any extra antibodies I can give him to get through flu season is a bonus. And most of this is excuses. It's nice. He's not a cuddly baby so this is our special time together and I'm doing it as much for me as I'm doing it for him.

So what does any of this have to do with Baby #2? People get pregnant while bfing all the time. Not me. We were ready to start trying for Baby #2 almost right away. But my body isn't. It took us a while and some help from clomid to get pregnant the first time. I was diagnosed with a mild case of PCOS. Long story short, I rarely ovulate on my own and I haven't had a cycle is two years now. And as wonderful as that is (and I won't lie, it's pretty freaking great!), it makes trying for baby #2 very difficult.

I've spoken to my nurse practitioner (she helped us the last time), and she will prescribe something to bring on a period so I can start clomid again but I have to wait until I stop nursing. That's my dilemma. It's been five months since I talked to her and I really thought Callum would have quit on me by now, but he hasn't and he is showing no signs of quitting nursing on his own.

We really want to start trying for baby #2 and have been for months, but I can't help but feel guilty. I know it's ridiculous but I feel like I'm short changing Callum by taking away something that he enjoys and that I know is good for him. It's like I'm choosing the other baby over him. ...and that sounds so overly dramatic!

That's my dilemma. And because I'm incapable of making hard decisions, I'm probably going to continue bfing him for a bit longer...

Tomorrow's post is going to be on a totally non-baby related. It's about a hat. A friendly, but dirty old baseball hate.

2011 - The year I'll attempt to blog

2011-01-01T08:41:00.002-05:00

1-1-11. How did I miss that? My sister texted me this morning with a "Happy New Year 1-1-11" and I'm surprised I hadn't put that together. Maybe it's because they didn't make such a big deal about it like they did with 6-6-06, 7-7-07, etc, but still, I'm usually quicker than that. Maybe the big hoopla will come when we hit 11-11-11. Now that's a lot of 1's.

Huh. This is the year that I want to really put some effort into blogging and that was my opening paragraph. Displaying a fascination with numbers/dates and using the word "hoopla" probably isn't going to convince a lot of folks that I'm worth following... Oh well. These are the types of things that actually go through my head. Scary, but true. Sorry folks. Walk away while you can.

Back to 2011. I'm not really great at finishing projects that I start. I started this blog four years ago, but never really focused on it. My goal is not to be a famous blogger with lots of advertisers and cool giveaways. I'd just like share some of my random thoughts and maybe connect with some people that I stuff in common with. So with that I'm going to give blogging a shot for 2011 and see what happens.

A little bit about myself and my little family. I've been married for 4 1/2 years to a pretty great guy. He's smart, but an idiot at the same time. I'm not nearly nice enough to him, but he sticks around anyways and that's another thing I'm going to work on this upcoming year. We have a 5-year old dog (yes, we lived in sin prior to getting married!). His a name is Chester and he is a Brittany. He's probably the most disobedient dog you'll meet, unless of course you have food in your hand and then he is a angel. And then there is our son Callum. Callum's 15 months old today and is a great kid. He's not a cuddly baby, which I'm now wondering if that's my fault because I'm not very cuddly, but he's very cheerful and good natured and I love him to death. He's also very funny. Or at least he's funny to me, but then again I'm the one that started this post by ranting about numbers and dates! It's been a wild ride since we've had him, but I wouldn't change any of it. In fact the topic for tomorrow's post will be about our quest for baby #2.

A little more about me, I'm a working mom and keep a terrible house. I can't even use the baby as an excuse. I kept a terrible house long before I was even pregnant . I'm not crafty. I hate clutter, but I'm a bit of a pack rat. (If someone could figure that one out for me I'd be much obliged, okay? Thanks!) I'm not a fashionista, but I envy women that are. I'd love to be good at hair, make-up and accessorizing, but I can barely dress myself in the morning. It was probably a blessing we had a boy and not a girl because she'd be totally screwed! Oh and I'm procrastinator. I haven't done my wedding album yet and it's been over 4 years! It's fully paid for by the way, I just need to pick out the pictures. And my MIL is ready to kill because I haven't got her the parents album yet.

That's probably enough for today. If you are not totally appalled by what you read, you are invited to come back again. I'll be here all year!

1 week down, 8 to go!

2010-10-25T14:23:00.003-04:00

It was a crazy week, but I did it. I completed the first week of C25K. I knew it was a good sign when I did it last Monday, but the fact that I managed to do all three runs this week is amazing for me -- I've started this program in my head (and on this blog!) more than a few times but never followed through. With this first hurdle done, I'm feeling confident that its going to be different this time.

On an eating front I was a rock star Monday through Thursday. I kept track of what I was eating and stayed within my Weight Watcher points. Things were looking good. And then the weekend came and I ate non-stop. It wasn't even anything good. I just couldn't stop snacking. I need to come up with a better plan for dealing with the weekends.

All and all I feel good. I'm thrilled that I finished the first week and I'm looking forward to doing Day 1 of Week 2 tonight even though I know it's going to be harder. There is no lose on the scale this week, which is a shame because on Friday morning there was, but apparently my non-stop snacking this weekend had some collateral damage.

I did this week on the treadmill because my husband was traveling, but would like to venture outdoors this week. If anyone finds their selves here that is doing it on a treadmill I'd be curious as what speed you are doing the walk vs. run. I'm intentionally doing the running a bit on the slow side because I want to make sure I stick with it and I think keeping it manageable will be key.

Have a good week!

C25K or bust!

2010-10-18T11:32:00.007-04:00

Today's the day. And I'm ready. Well almost ready -- there have a been a few wrenches thrown my way, but I'm determined to make this happen.

Quick recap: I have a beautiful baby boy. He turned one on October 1st and he loves chocolate cake -- who doesn't, right?
And I want to be healthier for him and losing some weight and getting in shape plays a big role in that.

I started McFatty Monday late January and lost some weight, but put some of it back on the past few weeks. But luckily just when my motivation was running a bit low, the C25K challenge came out. I've always wanted to be able to run. I'm convinced that if I ever started running it would be the key to maintaining my weight. I've tried C25K before, and gave up somewhere around week 2 or 3, but I'm hoping that doing it with a bunch of virtual friends from McFatty Monday that I'll find the inspiration to keep with it this time.

I seemed to have gone off track from my quick recap. I'm about 12lbs less than my pre-pregnancy weight which is great, but that was higher than I would have liked. I'm 12.4 lbs off from my goal weight, but I'm really just going to focus on making it through the program and toning up. I've even taken my measurements! ::gasp!::

And to prove that I mean business this time I'm doing the unthinkable. I'm posting a "before" picture ::double gasp!::

Hello there ! And note to self, get some new workout clothes.

My plan is to start today and do a weekly check-in on how I'm doing. The program is nine weeks so I'm also planning on posting a progress picture after completing 3 and then 6 weeks to see how I'm doing.

And now that the child is sleeping, I'm going to go for a run.

Have a great week!

McFatty Monday - Starting Over...

2010-10-11T22:42:00.003-04:00

So I lost motivation... I fit back into most of my clothes. I was under pre-baby weight. Maybe I hadn't lost all that I wanted to, but I was doing ok. I was feeling good and for the most part I was maintaining my weight. And then I did what I always do. I started eating. And I'm talking non-stop. If it's bad for you, I ate it. Sure I had good excuses -- a vacation with the family, work was busy so we needed to order take out, 4 birthday parties in 3 weekends -- but the truth is I just wanted to eat delicious junk food. So I did. Pizza, buffalo wings, chips, ice cream....

Normally I would have caught this after a couple of weeks, but my safety net wasn't there. For some strange reason, during a cleaning frenzy (which in itself was strange!) my husband decided to put my scale in the basement. When I asked him why, he said he didn't think I used it. Didn't use it?!?! I use it all-the-time. I know you should only weigh yourself once a week, but I weigh myself a few times a week. Sometimes daily. Sometimes a couple of times in a single day. I know this isn't healthy so I thought that I would try life without a scale. Big mistake. Strike that. HUGE Mistake.

Now I'm starting to feel my stomach when I sit. My clothes are not fitting as well. And most importantly I'm not feeling as good as I used to.

How much damage did I do during my downward eating spiral? No clue. I'm afraid to step on the scale. It's still in the basement. But I need to get back into control. I'm recommitting to McFatty Monday. I'm starting today/this week with focusing on eating. Next week I'm start with exercise.

Some of the ladies (and maybe gentlemen? not sure) on McFatty are going to be starting C25K. I've always wanted to do this. I've even said in past weeks here that I was going to start it as my exercise program but never did. But I'm going to this time. If we start next Monday we'll complete the program (9 weeks I think) right before Christmas and I think being able to do a 5K is a very good gift to myself and what a great way to close out the year.

Not having a scale didn't work well for me, but I think I'm going to try measuring success a bit differently this time around. I'm going to put more emphasis on getting through each of the weeks and not the number on the scale and I'm also going to take my measurements. Like many others I'm hoping some regular cardio will help tone and firm things that haven't been firm and tone in quite a while!

Things to do by next Monday (I do like a good list!): buy a measuring tape, get the scale out of the basement, download the C25K app from iTunes (there are a couple, any recommendations on which one is best?) and go shopping for new sports bras.

Have a good week!

So things I'm going to do to prepare for next weekUntil next week.... Enjoy!

Stay-cation: Days 1- 4 -- FAIL!

2010-08-31T14:01:00.004-04:00

We're allowed to take two weeks off from daycare without paying as long as they are in the months of July and August. We took a week off at the beginning of July and used the time to do a road-trip to visit family and decided to take the week of August 30th and just stay at home and be a family. Sounds great, right?

Today is day four and amount of family time so far? Zero. Well at least zero with the three of us.

Right after we picked the week we get an email from MIL asking if she come for a visit that first weekend. Not quite the way I wanted to kick off my vacation, but fine. She doesn't get to see the baby that often and it's important they spend time together. She arrives, everything is going great and then my husband gets a call Friday night that he has to leave the next morning for a last minute business trip. Fan-freaking-tastic. Don't get me wrong, I get along with my MIL, but I hadn't planned on hosting the visit by myself. Plus I had plans to get together with my sister on Sunday for a bit and had to cancel... Bleh!

Monday, my MIL leaves and I get the great news that my husband was able to cut the trip short and would be home late that night. Perfect! Until Tuesday morning that is. During breakfast the phone rings and he has to go into the office today. Fan-freaking-tastic again!

So here I am on day four and nothing has gone the way I've wanted it to. On top of that I needed to get one project done before leaving work last week and I didn't get it done. I had hoped to get it done over the weekend while my husband entertained my MIL and baby, but because of his trip I haven't been able to find time to do it. Urgh!

On the brightside, I have been able to have the past two days alone with my son and that has been wonderful. I'm just annoyed that my husband is missing it and I have no faith that the next few days will be any different.

I know that this is just a whining mess, but I needed to get it out. Ok. Whining over. Time to work on my project while the little one naps so I can enjoy my alone time with him the rest of the afternoon.

And crossing my fingers that we can salvage the rest of the week...

McFatty Monday Week 32: No loss, but doing better

2010-08-23T13:25:00.009-04:00

So two weeks ago I had a little breakdown and got some wonderful, supportive comments. While I don't want anyone to feel so... how should I say it... tired, overwhelmed, mediocre, behind at life -- pick any or all of them really! -- it was great to know I wasn't alone. So a big thank you to everyone!

A lot of the suggestions were to take it slow and make some small changes. And I sort-of listened. I made some small changes, and the amount of changes were probably more than I should of taken on at once , but it's been going ok. I've focused on getting in my water which has also helped with my dwindling breast-milk supply (bonus!) and I've also tried to get more exercise in. I managed to walk the dog three times last week and we spent some nice family time this weekend walking around the zoo.

And I also made an effort to get out from under the backlog of work that I've let piled up. I figured this would help with feeling so overwhelmed, and while there is still a lot to do with that one, but at least I made a dent which is a good start. These are all good things. But I also decided to start training for a 5K at the end of October, but then promptly did nothing about it. I'd still like to do the race, so maybe I'll start training for it this week. And I had planned to start eating better and I didn't... So a lot a good and some stuff that still need work...

I didn't lose any weight these past two weeks, but I also didn't gain. I'm 8lbs away from my end goal.

Our very honest and open McFatty leader Blair asked about our summer vacations and if they were everything we dreamed them to be. I was lucky enough to have two so far this summer and one more planned for next week. The first was a trip to the "House of the Mouse" or WDW where I had a wonder week with my family and my sister and her family. Since the little man was only 8 months, we only went to the parks one day, but it was a busy one! He got to see the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and ride the monorail. The rest of the week was spent playing with his cousins and splashing around in the pool with his dad. Doesn't get much better than that!
The next vacation week was we spent mostly in the car. We did a week-long road-trip to visit family. My sister and her family in CT for one night, three nights in Gettysburg to visit my husband's family and then two nights in Ocean City, MD to introduce my son to his Great-Gram. This trip was mixed. Some of it was miserable, some of it was great, but the time at the ocean spending it to my son was fantastic! He loves the beach and I loved showing it to him and just spending the time with him.

The vacation next week is the one I'm looking forward to the most. We're doing nothing! Well we may do some day trips, but it's just going to be the four of us. Me, my husband, the boy and the dog. My brother-in-law has been living with us for the summer and just went back to college, so we'll have the house to ourselves and it's going to be fabulous!

Have a great week!

McFatty Monday Week 30: Lacking motivation...

2010-08-09T12:52:00.006-04:00

I wasn't going to post. It's been three weeks since my last McFatty post or any type of blog entry and I was going to skip it. Again. And then I read Blair's entry and she makes me want to be motivated. I want to take control of my eating. I want to be healthy. I want to want to be in pictures with my son and not cringe at how I look at them. And yet I don't control my eating. I don't exercise. I drink beer on weekends. I need to do better. I want to do better. And yet I still have a hard time motivating myself past a couple of hours, maybe a day. I think I just get overwhelmed by everything.

I marvel at how some women seem to balance it all. Time just isn't my friend these days. It seems to evaporate before my eyes. I go non-stop all day long and yet accomplish little. This is both at work and at home. I'm behind at work. My house is dirty. My dog rarely gets walked. And could someone tell me how did my son become 10 1/2 months? I'm not sure how people fit in nutritious meals and make time for exercise (I can't even fathom how people find time to get to the gym!). How do you do it, because I'm tired! I'm tired and my child sleeps through the night! I can't even imagine what it would be like if he didn't.

But I'm going to try and motivate myself to do this because it's important.

I'm 9lbs above my goal weight (wedding weight) and I'm not going to lose it by my4th anniversary this coming Thursday which was my goal. And that will have to be ok. Instead I'm just going to commit to losing it. How long it takes is how long it takes. I will goal myself on moving more this week and drinking water. Maybe I'll get my self a pedometer. Gadgets make me happy.

I look forward to some of the fun, small challenges coming our way through McFatty Monday. I can use all the motivation I can get!

Have a great week!

McFatty Monday Week 27: Body Image

2010-07-19T10:43:00.004-04:00

Wow! Has it really been 4 weeks since I checked in? Yikes! The good news is that after two vacations, a week of cookie craziness and enjoying summertime libations, I've managed to get back to my birthday goal weight and am now only 6 lbs away from my final goal of Wedding weight! I only have 3 1/2 weeks to do it which may or may not be doable. When you are that close to goal 2lbs a week is a long shot, but I'm going to try for it!

So I'm close. And right now I'm at a number that I can usually maintain pretty easily while fitting into clothes. But I'm not happy. Even though all the baby weight is gone and I've lost all of the pre-baby weight I had put on for various reasons, I'm not happy. I should be ecstatic, but I'm not. I don't think I look good. In fact, I don't see a whole lot of difference than I did pre-baby even though I'm somewhere between 15 and 18 less than I was there. I've been saying I was going to post before and after pictures and I'm going to once I take them. Maybe that will help. But right now I just feel doughy. That's probably because I am doughy, but that's besides the point. I don't think I've ever been happy with how I looked. Maybe, and that's a big maybe, about 8 years ago, but it was seriously for like two months. I've just never had a good body image.

I know I should exercise, but truthfully I'm not sure that even if I wasn't doughy I'd have a better body image. Maybe that's my excuse for not exercising - I hiding behind finding the truth that I'll just never be happy with myself. This may sound awful, but sometimes I'm happy I didn't have a girl because I'm afraid I would pass along my unease with myself/body. While it can still be an issue with boys I don't think it's as prevalent. Maybe I'm wrong about that though so I'd love to hear thoughts.

Last week people posted pictures of themselves in bathing suits. I thought to myself that never in a millions years would I do that, but maybe it could be my first step. I don't even know what it would be a first step to. Exercising? Feeling better about myself? I don't know. But it's a picture of my little family having a good time at my son's first trip to the beach. I want to look at that picture and remember how much fun we had and not that I think I look terrible. (I seriously had no idea how droopy my boobs looked! - I'm blaming it on the fact that the suit was a size too big. See! There I go fixating on it again!) . So here it is, straight from the beach in Ocean City, MD.

Have a good week!

Wordless Wednesday - my whale!

2010-06-23T12:54:00.004-04:00

McFatty Monday Week 23: And a McFatty one it is!

2010-06-21T10:49:00.003-04:00

Week 23 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 25)

Confession time. I have a love/hate relationship with McFatty Mondays. I'm sure you can guess when I love it, but let's state the obvious. I love it when I had a great week and can report a loss. But I also love it because it forces an accountability that reminds me to course correct and this is one of those moments. Two weeks ago I came back from vacation with a small expected gain and claimed I was ready to work towards my next goal. I lied. Vacations are like a gateway drug for me. It reminds me how fun it is to eat and drink anything I want and then I spiral out of control. I'm a little more than five feet tall and my metabolism has never been my friend and is even less so as I've gotten older. I simply can't eat and drink anything I want and remain the size I want to be. Especially since I don't exercise regularly (read: at all). Watching what I eat is all I've got (unless I start exercising ::shudder::).

So it's Monday. And I have two choices. Not post (like last week - in fact I didn't even step on the scale last week because I knew it wouldn't be good) and continue to enjoy hamburgers, pizza, beer and cookies* to my heart's content or I could step on the scale and see where I was and start over. So here I am. Hating McFatty, but loving it at the same time.

*In my head I was able to justify the cookies because they were lactation cookies. I made a batch last weekend and ate pretty much all of them in one week. Almost 6 dozen cookies. I couldn't get enough of them. Oh and did I mention that I'm not really having supply issues? I just wanted cookies and knew my husband wouldn't even bat an eye since they were lactation cookies.

The results: Up 4 lbs since my lowest point while doing McFatty Mondays and I'm now 9 lbs away from my goal of being back to wedding weight.

Goals for the week: 80 oz of water a day. Salads for Lunch. And try to get out and walk the dog, but since the husband is traveling this week that will be a stretch goal.

Have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday -- Pool Time!

2010-06-09T14:58:00.004-04:00

From last week's vacation to the House of the Mouse (aka WDW).

McFatty Monday Week 21: It's been a while

2010-06-07T12:08:00.003-04:00

Week 21 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 23)

So I haven't posted since Week 18 and usually that would mean that I'm in a downward (but probably delicious - hey, you know I speak the truth!) spiral where I'm gaining my weight back. I'm proud to report that it is only 1/2 true and the other 1/2 was a planned break from dieting. I was just super busy -- in fact I don't know how you all keep up with your blogs, but that's a post for another day. Back to McFatty Monday.

Three weeks ago I was working towards my goal of getting to a certain weight by my 35th birthday. I was only 1 lb away and I promised before and after pictures if I hit it. Not only did I hit it, but on May 28th I was 1lb under my goal! WooHoo! I fully planned on taking the after pictures, but ran out of time as I was getting ready to go on vacation. And the best thing about hitting this goal was I was able to reverse the horror that I revealed back in week 9.

I no longer weighed more than my mother! WooHoo!

So I was under my b-day goal and off to vacation where I had no intention of dieting. And I don't feel bad about that. I drank lots and lots of beer, ate cake/cupcakes four or five days in a row (we celebrated two birthdays while on vacation and it would be a shame to let left over cake go to waste!), had a special outing with my Godson to celebrate his 5th birthday where I introduced him to mint-chocolate chip ice cream... the list goes on and on. I had a great time, but now it's back to reality.

I gained 3lbs on vacation. Could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse. This puts me up 2 lbs from by birthday goal weight, but I'm done using that as a yardstick. I'm now tracking to my final goal of wedding weight which is only 8 lbs away.

The results: Up 3 lbs since my birthday. 8 lbs to wedding weight goal.

Goals for the week: Water. Aqua. H2O. And lots of it! Need to flush out some of these toxins!

Answer to Blair's question - what's your favorite diet food at the moment: A Jello's chocolate pudding cup -- the one that's 60 calories and made with Splenda -- topped with a dollop of fat free ReddiWip whipped cream. It's my dessert most nights and gets me through my chocolate cravings.

Have a great week!

P.S. And to prove that I'm not a fibber, I will work on getting the after pictures taken and get them posted. Not sure if I should wait until I'm back to birthday weight to take them, but I will post them eventually.

McFatty Monday Week 18: Woo-Freaking-Hoo!

2010-05-17T11:19:00.004-04:00

Week 18 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 20)

First off I want to say hello to the first guest host of McFatty Monday, Diana from Hormonal Imbalances. Diana is nice enough to help Blair out this week and totally upped the ante by working out during her McFatty vlog. Check it out of you haven't already.

So there wasn't a Week 17 posting. In fact I haven't posted at all in the past week or so because I was busy getting ready for and then attending a tech conference. Sorry about that! The conference played havoc with my schedule and I never got a chance to weigh in last week so I didn't know how I was doing. And for those of you that have been to tech conferences you know what can they bring. Food and lots of it. Breakfast & lunch buffets. Mid-morning snacks. Mid-afternoon snacks. Plus many open bar receptions with appetizers. Appetizers that aren't good for you. Granted the food isn't very good, but it's there and it's plentiful.

I tried to be good, but I wasn't always, so I didn't know what to expect this morning when I stepped on the scale, but the results were good!

The results: There was no week 17. And week 16 I didn't lose anything. So I'm down 3lbs from week 15, which was three weeks ago so I'm averaging a pound a week.

But what this really means is that I'm only ONE POUND AWAY from my birthday goal weight and I still have 11 days to go before my birthday! Woo-freaking-Hoo!

Goals for the week: Lose that damn pound!

Have a great week!

Oh and to try and tempt you back. If I hit my goal weight next week, I'm going to be posting some before and after shots.

Wordy Wednesday - 6 month photo attempt

2010-05-05T14:56:00.015-04:00

So I've been planning on doing milestone photos of the little one. 3, 6, 9 and 12 months followed by 18 months and 2 years. At the three month point I was very prompt. We went the day before he turned three months. The six month? Well let's just say he was 6 and a couple of weeks when we went the first time. That's right there was a first time as well as a second time (the same day he turned 7 months -- oops!) because the first time didn't go so well. It wasn't his fault though - or mine really. We timed it as well as we could. He had a nap, was fed and all around in a good mood, but the place was running behind. It was almost an hour before we got in there and we quickly ran out of happy baby time.
So we got pictures like the drunk baby, the sad baby and the oddly huge head baby:

The second time they were also running behind (note to self, consider going to a new place or at least not going on the weekend), but not as bad and we had more happy baby time to work with and as a result we got better pictures:

And my favorite:

And then the sales campaign comes in where they start making fancy enhancements to the pictures so that you'll spend more money. I was very firm with them. I told them not to bother. There is no way I'm going to purchase any of them, but yet they still make them.

I was good. I held my ground. Ok, fine. I did walk away with one little collage, but I intended to get one for my desk at work so I don't feel bad about it.
So even though it took two attempts, we got it done. And it was a win/win on both sides. I got some photos I was happy with and they got more of my money than I wanted them to!

So for those of you out there that go to get your little ones pictures taken, do you stand firm? Or do they always sucker you into spending more money than you intended? Or am I alone in this?

McFatty Mon..., err Tuesday Week 16

2010-05-04T13:41:00.003-04:00

Week 16 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 18)

What? Today's not Monday? Huh. Yeah, ok. I totally slacked yesterday, but at least it wasn't because I gained weight and didn't want to admit it. But then again I didn't lose weight either so I wasn't in a rush to shout it from the rooftops. I stayed the same this week which is fine. I had a very good loss last week (4 lbs!) and this week I indulged in two high calorie days. The first was an attempt to be strategic. I figured I'd throw in a high calorie day mid-week to shake things up a bit metabolism wise. And it probably would have worked if two days later I didn't follow it up with a fantastic date night with the husband. That's right! For only the 2nd time in seven months (the first being my husband's birthday in late December), my husband and I went out by ourselves. We had gone out a couple of other times with my sister and her husband, but this was just the two of us and we had a fantastic time. Good food, great drinks and time to talk about anything and everything. Well worth a zero gain/loss week!

But damn babysitters make a nice night out expensive!

The results: zero, zilch, nada. But not a gain!

Goals for the week: Hmm.... Behave at the BBQ we're going to on Saturday. And continue with the 80 oz of water a day.

Blair's Question of the week: What do you do in an emergency and/or on the road? Umm... I plead the 5th. (This may also be correctly interrupted as I go balls out with a quarter pounder with cheese & fries)

Have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday - Handsome Devil

2010-04-28T08:00:00.003-04:00

Karma bites back

2010-04-27T10:54:00.006-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided that on Tuesdays I would post what I would consider my "bad mommy of week" moment. I think most moms have these moments. Times where you dropped the ball (like not bringing backup clothes to daycare) or you did something with your little one that you instantly realized was a bad idea (like giving them a baby spoon to play with which they immediately try to shove back deep in their mouth/throat). I thought this would be a fun little series where I would record my silly little mistakes for people to chuckle over or chime in with similar mistakes and it would also help me get into the regular rhythm of blogging. Mondays I would do the McFatty posts, Tuesdays the bad mommy award, Wednesday a cute picture for Wordless Wednesday.... Good idea, right? Sure! Well, that is until my bad mommy moment resulted in tears - his and mine, but more importantly his. And suddenly my funny little series isn't so funny any more.

A couple of weeks ago I was scrambling to get out the door to take Fussy Gus for his six month check-up. Weekday mornings are hectic at my house -- we're not very organized, but it was even more hectic that day because my husband was away on a business trip and I was doing it solo. We were just about to leave the house, I put the baby into his car seat bucket thing and realized I forgot something in the kitchen. What I forgot, I have no clue. I remember thinking to myself that I should buckle him in, but he'd be fine for a second so I choose not to and went into the kitchen which is just a few steps away. I wasn't gone a couple of seconds when I heard the awful noise of Fussy Gus hitting the floor. He flipped himself out of the car seat and landed face down on the hardwood floor. Worse, the car seat had been on the ottoman, so he fell about two feet. My heart stopped. He immediately cried. I scooped him up and was able to comfort him so that he stopped crying pretty quickly. Shaking I righted the car seat, got him into it, grabbed the diaper bag and rushed to the doctor's office. On the way there I called my sister and started bawling about how I dropped the baby. She assured me he'd be fine and luckily he was.

I don't know if I would have taken him to the doctor's since I knew what to look for with a head injury, but since we had the appointment I damn sure was going to have look at him. The doctor probably would have asked since he had an angry red mark on his forehead from the fall, but I told her what happened and she examined him. He was fine and then I got the lecture and rightfully so -- I screwed up. From there we went to daycare and I had to tell them what happened and they had to document that he came in with the mark on his head so that they wouldn't be held responsible for it. And then I told my husband. Each time I told someone I was just reinforcing the feeling that I was the worst mom in the world.

I know accidents happen. I certainly never meant for him to fall and thankfully he wasn't hurt, but ever since that moment I feel sick that I had using my little mommy mistakes as a source of content for a blog. I felt like it was karma getting back at me. Am I being a bit over dramatic? That's the thing -- I know I am. But I can't shake the feeling, so while I'll continue to share my experiences of things that I do right, wrong and ass-backwards, it's not going to be in the form of a weekly series. It just feels like I'd be tempting fate too much. (And by now you've obviously guessed that I'm a bit superstitious)

Oh and just so you know, I did learn from my mistake. I do not put the car seat bucket thing anywhere but on the floor and the car seat base.

McFatty Monday Week 15

2010-04-26T10:25:00.001-04:00

Week 15 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 17)

Wow! What a difference a week makes! Especially when you actually stick to the plan you outlined for yourself. I'm down four, that's right, FOUR-freaking pounds this week. I drank my water, walked my dog, ate salads for lunch a few times and even once for dinner. I said no to the bagel my very kind, but very sabotaging co-worker bought me. And I lost 4 lbs. I even had a sugar-free jello pudding cup most nights for dessert and remembered to limit myself to one beer Saturday night.

The results: down 4 lbs and am now 4 lbs away from my birthday goal weight. I have 4 and 1/2 weeks to lose the 4 lbs. Totally doable!

Goals for the week: Same as last week since they worked so well. Walk the dog 5 times, drink 80oz of water a day and have salads for lunch.

Question of the week was around bathing suit plans for the summer. Last year I bought a suit I loved right before I got pregnant, because I couldn't fit into any of my old ones. Now that I'm down 14lbs pre-pregnancy weight, I'm thinking my old ones will fit, but they are bikinis. And while I think I'll be able to pull it off (well, as well as I've ever been able to pull it off - which was never great), I think it may be more practical to go with a tankini since I'll be sitting around in a splashy pool and not lying out anymore. So I think I'll be shopping...

Have a great week!

Baby Bath Time!

2010-04-24T08:03:00.006-04:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but now that Fussy Gus can sit up by himself*, bath time has become much more fun with all the splashing and giggling that goes on. All we need now is some bath toys and a better mat for the bottom of the tub. I sense a shopping trip in my future!

Oh and how huge is that baby belly? I love it!

*We always keep a hand on him while he is in the tub to prevent him from falling.

McFatty Monday Week 14 :

2010-04-19T09:28:00.004-04:00

Week 14 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 16)

So what I swore I wouldn't do on my McFatty journey, I've done. I've fallen into old habits. I've slowed down on drinking water, walking the dog frequently as fallen to the wayside, training for the 5K never even got started and my salads with grilled chicken for lunch are a distant memory. And yet I was still losing* which leads me to what I am most disappointed in myself for: I got within 5 lbs of my goal, was feeling good about myself, and I went into sabotage mode. Don't get me wrong, sabotage mode is delicious, but three Dairy Queen Blizzards in a week is ridiculous (in my defense, my husband bought me one as an olive branch when I was pissed at him so I felt obligated to eat it - ok that's a lie. I was giddy as a school girl when he walked through the door with it and I had to eat it) never mind the large bag of peanut M&Ms that bought on the 50% off post Easter candy sale.

So here I stand, 3 lbs heavier. 8 lbs away from my first goal which I had wanted to hit by April 25th and now I never will . So I'm starting over. Today. And I'm picking a new date for my goal. My Birthday -- May 28th. My (can't believe I'm going to type this) 35th birthday. I will lose 8 lbs in the next 5 1/2 weeks. It won't be easy, but I'm going to do it.

Goals for the week: Walk the dog 5 times, drink 80oz of water a day and have salads for lunch.

I think Blair's question of the week is about what you've learned and how will you make this loss long-term. I don't know if I've learned a lot, but at least I realized what I was doing sooner rather than later and that's something. As for long-term, I haven't thought that far ahead and that's a bad thing. I'm going to noodle on it a bit and get back to you.

Have a great week y'all! (yeah, I really can't pull "y'all" off)

*I credit this to breastfeeding. I've heard mixed things about how BF can help you lose the baby weight, but those 500 extra calories that you are burning really came in handy for me and is probably why I lost some weeks when I shouldn't have.

My Mommy & Me Experience

2010-04-17T20:28:00.007-04:00

I'm not really a joiner. I have a lot of friendly acquaintances, but only a few very close friends. So when my two best friends, girls I have known for almost 30 years, started pressuring me to join a mommy and me class after the baby was born, I thought they were crazy. They know me. I don't do things like that. I like to stay in my safe little circle. But they were rather insistent. They told me that I would need to get out of the house after the baby was born and I needed to sign up. So against my better judgment, I signed up and when Fussy Gus was just shy of 3 weeks old we packed up and headed to class.

I didn't know what to expect - and I'm sure each class is a bit different depending on the group of moms that come together - but essentially we were all in the same boat. We went around the room that day introducing ourselves, our babies and we shared our birth stories and maybe something that we were struggling with. Introductions for the nine of us ended up taking the entire two hours of class. It was like we knew it was a safe haven to admit that we were overwhelmed and pretty everything was harder than we thought it would be.

Class ended and I started packing up all of our stuff. I don't know if I would say I loved the class, but I didn't hate it and would mostly likely come back the following week. And then it happened. The group leader thanked us all for coming and told us to go and have lunch together. Huh?!?! I just met these people. I don't want to have lunch with them! And it was time to feed Fussy Gus. I wasn't sure I was ready to breastfeed in public, never mind trying it in front of a bunch of strangers! But I could hear my two friends in the back of my head telling me to do just do it. So I did. Six classes and six lunches later, I was sad that the class was ending. (And did I mention that I'm pretty sure I ended up flashing everyone in the Mexican restaurant during that first lunch?)

Since most of us were still on maternity leave we started planning outings together. We did a cookie exchange at someone's house, a bunch of us plus babies went and got pedicures (us, not the babies!), we had pot luck lunches at houses. One by one we headed back to work and the play dates became less frequent and eventually stopped, until today (now yesterday because I didn't finish this post until today) that is. Seven of the nine of us (plus babies) were able to get together for lunch.

It was amazing to see not only how much the babies have changed, but also the mommies. Besides everyone being out of their maternity clothes, there was a confidence that none of us had back then. And while it had been a while since most of us had seen each other, it was like no time had past. We bonded as a group so much during those early weeks, it was like we were a bunch of old war buddies. Now don't get me wrong -- none of us are experts. We spent much of the lunch quizzing each other how much and how often each baby was eating, who was still breastfeeding, who was or wasn't sleeping through the night and sharing teething tips.

We had a great time at lunch and it was wonderful to see everyone. I hadn't realized how much I had missed them. I certainly never realized that when I walked into that class almost six months ago that I would make so many new friends. I guess I owe my two best friends a thank you - I may not have wanted to do it, but it was definitively worth it.

Oops! I'm being featured today! Crap! I need a witty post!

2010-04-15T11:19:00.003-04:00

Hey there!

You may have wandered over here from the d-listed mom blogs. If you did, thank you! Unfortunately I never expected to be featured so quickly and therefore you are probably way under impressed with my last two posts where I complained about wearing oatmeal and the fact that we haven't started our taxes yet. Had I known you were coming I would have posted something much more engaging -- or at least I would have tried to!

I have a number of posts that planning in the next couple of weeks, but since you are probably a mom, I'll share a little of my birth story. Fussy Gus (not his name, but it's a nickname we gave him during one of his fussy periods) arrived via a planned c-section. And while it was planned, we didn't have a lot of advance notice. Most of the time between when we learned we were having the baby on Thursday and Thursday morning was spent getting things ready -- finishing up at work. bringing the dog to my parents, etc. I didn't get a chance to research c-sections -- All I really knew was what they told us in the 10 minute video showed during the childbirth prep class.

So here we are in the hospital that morning and it's time to get the show on the road. I was a bit surprised to learn that I would walk into the operating room. But I did and then I hopped up on the operating table. Have I mentioned that I have never spent a night in the hospital, had an operation or even an IV before? This is all new territory for me. My husband is waiting down the hall while they did the spinal block. The first attempt fails but luckily it works the second time. So now I'm lying on the table and can't feel anything. I'm looking around a bit, wondering when they'll get started and I smell something. What's that smell? Smells like something's burning? Oh wait! I think that's me! Apparently they had started and apparently I was being cauterized! Oh. My. God! And where is my husband?!?!

So I looked at the anesthesiologist and was about to say something, when I hear him say "Is anyone going to go get the husband?". What?!?! They forgot?!?! Was he going to miss it?!?! Luckily he arrived in plenty of time, but the poor bastard walked into the room and got a straight on view of all the glory that is my innards. And squimish does not even begin to describe my husband when it comes to blood and medical stuff. He was a trooper though (albeit a bit green in color) and it wasn't long before we heard the announcement that we had our beautiful son (we didn't know the gender ahead of time) and life hasn't been the same since.

The post was a bit rushed, but hopefully you'll stop by again sometime and hear about our life as parents while juggling work, a disobedient dog and a house which will always be under construction! And thanks to the d-listed Mom Blogs for featuring us. If you haven't already, check it out!

Have a great day!

Trials of a Working Mom...

2010-04-15T11:04:00.002-04:00

Not sure how, but this morning when I got to work I noticed some type of gunk down the leg of my pants. Other than walking to the car and then into my building I didn't go anywhere and I didn't have anything to eat this morning. Upon closer inspection I realized it was oatmeal and while I didn't eat anything this morning, the little man did. And somehow he transferred it to my brand new work pants without getting a speck on himself. Fan-freaking-tastic! And so the day begins....

Oh and the taxes still haven't been started yet, but I was told not to worry about it. I'm smelling an extension in the air...

Can this week end soon? Please?

That time of year again...

2010-04-14T22:04:00.003-04:00

It's slightly after 10pm on April 14th and Mr. Tall Guy has not started our taxes yet. I offered to do them, but he said no, he would take care of it. So I tried a different approach. I tried sell him on the idea of how cool it would be check off that we have a dependent this year for the first time. Lame I know. And he obviously didn't fall for it. So now I'm sitting here trying to wait trying to figure out how long I should wait until I mention it again.

I have a feeling that the next 24 hours at my house are going to be miserable.

McFatty Monday Week 12

2010-04-05T13:35:00.003-04:00

Week 12 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 14)

Happy belated Easter! It was a great weekend here in New England after what seems like weeks of torrential rains. Seriously, I wouldn't have been surprised if I saw Wonder Mutt heading up a gangway with another Brittany in tow!

The weather was fantastic and we were able to take a long walk as a family and spend some time just playing in the grass with the little one. And with great weather weekends came some tasty beverages! My new favorite spring/summer drink is going to the Spiked Palmer -- an Arnold Palmer made with Firefly's Sweet Tea Vodka, but never fear, I am not abandoning my first love of ice cold beer. Beer and I spent a fair amount of time catching up together Thursday night after the babe went to bed and also during (gasp!) Easter dinner on Sunday. And the Palmer visited my house Friday evening. Now what does any of this have to do with McFatty Monday you may ask?

The Results: 0lbs. My goal for the week was 2lbs and I stayed exactly the same. Strangely I'm ok with this because I think it sets me up pretty for next week where I really will hit 2lbs down -- I'll just have to lay off the sauce to do it and work in a little bit more exercise.

Distance to Goal: 5lbs in the next 3 weeks to my 1st goal and still 11lbs off from wedding weight.

Question of the week was have you changed anything about your line of attack and the answer is no, but I would like to. I really would like to do Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem to help with the last 5/11lbs, but I'm still breastfeeding (just hit little man's six month birthday- WooHoo!) and you can't do either program while BFing. So until then I'm just going to have to try and be better about my choices and pick up the pace on exercising.

6 Months Old - Happy 1/2 Birthday!

2010-04-01T09:12:00.001-04:00

My how things have changed in six months.

Six months ago today (26 weeks exactly) I left the house knowing that in just a few short hours I was going to be given the greatest gift I could imagine. I was going in for a scheduled c-section (a story for another day) and we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. I would love to describe how I felt on the drive to the hospital but it's just a blurry jumble. There was anticipation, excitement, nervousness, being scared shitless... You name it and I think I felt it. And at 8:48 that morning I was blessed with a healthy 8lb 4oz baby boy (who remained nameless for the next 48 hours).

Fast forward six months and I'm amazed with everything about him. How he has changed and really become his own little person. And all that he has accomplished - it is truly amazing how much we accomplish during the first year of life. In the beginning it was all about getting him to breastfeed and boy what a struggle that was, but once that was worked out (five long weeks and a frenectomy later) he was off and running. His first real smile, his first belly laugh, reaching out to grasp objects, mastering head control, cooing, rolling from belly to back (which first happened away from me at daycare - so sad), the first time I saw him rolling from belly to back, sleeping through the night and now the latest of tasting food for the first time and starting to sit on his own... And through it all getting to see his personality start to form and shine -- it's just fantastic. Especially seeing traits that come from me, traits from his dad and traits that are all his own.

Oh Lord. I'm gushing. I'm really not the gushing type. And not all of it was rosy. Fussy Gus and I have had/have our moments, but I'm choosing to have selective memory when it comes to that. And then there are the times that no parent looks forward to. Times when your child is sick and nothing you do makes them feel better or when they have to get a shot at the doctor's. All and all it's been a wild ride and I have a feeling that the next 6 months will be just as crazy. I can't wait!

Happy 1/2 Birthday little man!

Wordless Wednesday - My favorites

2010-03-31T21:35:00.004-04:00

Cue music! (And imagine really bad singing)

These are a few of my favorite things... Ah, I mean favorite people. Ok, that doesn't work either. Favorite boys? That works!

Husband, Fussy Gus and Wonder Mutt all curled up together for a little snooze. Does it get better?

Bad Mommy Award Nomination of the week March 29

2010-03-30T09:40:00.000-04:00

Oh no, am I sensing a pattern? Last week's nomination involved Fussy Gus' daycare bedding and this week it's the daycare backup outfit.

Bad Mommy Award Nomination for the Week of March 29th: My baby looks like a gigolo!

If only I had a picture of it because it was a sight. It's Thursday afternoon and I'm coming up to the part of the day that I look forward to the most - picking up Fussy Gus from daycare. Things were going as they normally do. I entered the infant room and gave it a quick scan to see where my little man was and on Thursday he was in the exersaucer which he loves, loves, loves. But something was different. He was in a different outfit. This isn't uncommon, but something was off. And then I realized that while Fussy Gus was giving me the huge smile that I adore he looked like a baby gigolo! And then it got worse...

The outfit they had changed him into was a one piece that had a collar and three buttons down the chest and then it snaps at the legs. And there he was in the exersaucer with all three buttons opened and no onesie underneath. That's right, my baby looked like a gigolo showing off his chest. The daycare teacher quickly explained that this is the second time they changed him that day and the remaining outfit didn't quite fit. Well that was an understatement because when I picked up from the exersaucer I realized that only 1/2 of the leg buttons were done! They essentially had to wrestle him into the outfit, couldn't snap all the buttons and apparently it was tight across the chest as well, hence the open buttons!

Note to self, when your child outgrows their clothes at home, it also applies to the daycare emergency clothes so you need to swap them out as well. Oh and onesies don't grow on trees, so you need to bring them in as well because let's face it -- the onesies are the first line of defense when diaper incidents happen!

My saving grace for the week? In my rush to get him out of there before the other parents saw him (judge if you must but yes I care about what they think), I didn't think to take a picture of him while he was still wearing the outfit nor did I think to do it when we got home. I can't believe I'm going to admit it, but yes, I contemplated putting him back into it for a photo op for the blog -- but only for a second and promptly decided against it.

There you have it. My bad mommy moment of the week...

McFatty Monday Week 11

2010-03-29T11:26:00.003-04:00

Week 11 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 13)

I feel good. It's been a while since I could say that. I don't look quite the way I want to yet, but I'm on my way and it's a good feeling. Some of this may be that Fussy Gus slept through the night twice in a row, but I think it may be more than that. I felt good enough about the progress I have been making that I wanted to have a picture taken of me and the little man, which says a lot. It actually makes me a little sad because I've been avoided many a Kodak moment since Fussy was born because of my own self-esteem issues, but I'm hoping to change that starting now.

Oh and did I mention that I wore size 8 jeans this weekend?!?!?! And not only did I wear them, they fit! Not fit like 45 minutes after you have been wearing them and they've stretched out a bit, these fit when I put them on and I wasn't dying to get out of them at the end of the day. Such progress!

The question of the week is around favorite work-out gear. Working out is not a strong point with me. Most of my activity is walking the dog in the mornings so most of that gear is sweatpants that doubles as pjs so getting out for the walk is as easy as possible. (I know, with sweatpants as pjs it's a wonder there is a little one to write about!) Favorite sneakers is probably New Balance. I don't have a sports bra that I love, so I may have to check out the Jockey recommendation. A thought just occurred to me, maybe if I had pretty work-out gear I'd be more likely to work out... Shopping trip anyone?

The results: Down 1 pound this week for a total of 6lbs in 11 weeks. In the beginning I made a goal to get to my first weight goal by April 25th, so in four weeks I need to lose another 5lbs. Looking at my past history it doesn't look good, but I'm going to be more positive about it and say that 5lbs in 4 weeks is doable and I am going to make it so with that I'm going to try for 2lbs this week! Oh and I have 11lbs to go before I hit Wedding weight.

Have a great week! (Oh, and I'm using the pictures we took this weekend for my post on Thursday, so come on back if you'd like to see what an Apparently P & a Fussy Gus look like)

We have a sitter!

2010-03-28T10:40:00.008-04:00

Fussy Gus has been working on this for a couple of weeks now but we're at a point where we're going to call victory! To celebrate we did a little photo shoot this morning and Wonder Mutt decided to help out! Don't my two boys look cute together?

First we have Wonder Mutt gets ready for the camera

And then we finally get close to the pose that I was waiting for

Wonder Mutt may not look too excited, but Fussy Gus is one happy baby!

Congratulations little man!

Do you go the extra mile at your job?

2010-03-26T12:56:00.005-04:00

I love getting a paycheck. I like my boss and most of the people I work with. I'm pretty good at what I do (except on days like today when it's Friday and I don't feel like working anymore). But do I love my job? Nope. Can't say that I do. Do I go the extra mile at my job? Sometimes. Less now than before Fussy Gus. Not sure why. It may be the lack of sleep. Or maybe it's because it seems less important next to him.

I work in the computer industry, so it's not like I working on curing cancer. (Fine. Computers play a role in curing cancer, but you know what I mean!) But today in the bathroom I realized that even if your job isn't on the scale of curing diseases, you can still try to step it up a bit and do the little extra. And I'm guessing it brings you a little bit more satisfaction when you do it. I know, I know -- the bathroom? Stay with me for a second.

As I said I work in computers and I sit in cubeville in a decent sized building. And like most office buildings we have cleaning people to take care of things such as cleaning the bathrooms. Look at the picture. One of the cleaning people goes to the trouble of making a flower on the toilet paper. We're not talking about a hotel triangle here people. A flower. This must take at least a couple of seconds to make. Is it required? Hell no. But she (or he) does it as a little extra. I'd like to think they did it to brighten someone's day. And today it worked for me.

Will this make me go the extra mile? I'll be honest, probably not all the time, but maybe a little more often then I have been.

Bad Mommy Award Nomination of the Week

2010-03-23T13:45:00.012-04:00

I'll be honest, several times a week -- it's really several times really a day, but I'm trying to be more positive -- I'll do something that puts me into the running for the bad mommy award. Of course none of these things are harmful to Fussy Gus, but are things that you'd never see Marion Cunningham, June Clever or Donna Reed do on TV. (If these name don't mean anything to you then damn I've gotten old!) But since there are so many, I'm going to try and narrow it down to one bad mommy award nomination a week to share. Unless I get better at parenting, this will most likely be a running post. Here we go!

Bad Mommy Award Nomination for the Week of March 22nd: Dirty Sheet on Daycare Crib

Background: Fussy Gus goes to daycare and every Friday at pickup the parents are to strip their child's crib and take the sheet and blanket (if you use one) home to launder for the next week.

Confession: I picked up Fussy Gus on Friday, took his sheet and blanket home with me. The blanket and sheet went down to the laundry room. But then the weather was gorgeous on Saturday and I didn't get around to laundry. And Sunday was also nice and the short visit to my parents turned into a full day thing and I didn't feel like doing laundry Sunday night. So what do I do Monday morning? I go down to the laundry room and retrieve the sheet and blanket and put it back in the daycare bag. I my defense I did check to make sure there isn't any spit up or anything on it.

Granted they weren't really that dirty, but still...

And what's worse is that I keep an extra blanket and two sets of seats at daycare in case of an accident, but instead of putting those on his crib Monday morning I put the dirty ones back on so they (the daycare teachers) didn't think I was too lazy to do my son's laundry (which I totally was).

So here he is. Fussy Gus, asleep at daycare yesterday afternoon, lying on his dirty sheet and tucked under his dirty blanket. Doesn't seem to mind, does he? But it's still a bad mommy award moment...

McFatty Monday Week 10

2010-03-22T10:36:00.005-04:00

I'm down two lbs from last week which was up one lb from the week before where I lost nothing. So I'm really only down 1lb and I finally undid the damage that was done from my road trip to Atlantic City. Did you follow that? Me either.

Seriously though some good stuff happened this week. One, I'm in the process of getting a fancy new look for blog - you like? Great. But wait, that isn't weight loss related. Ok then, I guess I'll start over.

One, I realized that exercise doesn't have to be torture. I spent a few hours on Saturday enjoying the 70 degree weather in the state park with the family and it was fantastic. The dog got to romp, the baby got some fresh air and I walked off some of the St. Patrick's Day corned beer I indulged in. And Two, I realized that I pretty much taste anything that passes by me which is edible. At Weight Watchers they always talk about avoiding the BLTs - Bites, Licks and Tastes because they can add up and to be honest I always ignored them because I don't do that. This week I realized that yeah, I do that.

Fussy Gus started cereal this week and every time I heated it up for him I stuck my finger in it to see if the temperature was ok and then promptly licked my finger. This is gross on a couple of different levels. For one I'm sticking my finger in his food and the other is that I've now tasted breast milk which I had avoided up until now. The first time I did it and realized what I had done, I swore not to make that mistake again. And guess what? I repeated the mistake. With. every. single. bowl. I. made! Breast milk and all. And now I have noticed that I do this with pretty much everything. I'm a taster! Have I stopped? No, but now that I know I'm trying to stop and that's a start.

So far that's what I've learned so far on my McFatty journey which isn't bad considering I wasn't trying to learn anything, just lose some weight.

And under the TMI category, the breast milk and oatmeal combo has a surprisingly sweet taste to it. I know -- Gross!

And now what we've been weighting (ha! - yes, I'm a dork) for:

The results: 1 real pound down this week for a total of 5lbs in 10 weeks. Doesn't sound like much, but I don't have a lot to loss so it makes sense that it's a slower weight loss. 6lbs to my first goal. 12lbs to Wedding weight!

Have a great week!
-Apparently P

At last! Spring is here!

2010-03-20T18:52:00.004-04:00

As winters in Boston go, this one wasn't that bad. We had snow, but not ridiculous amounts like other parts of the country -- hell, other parts of the Northeast! And it was cold, but not as brutally cold has it has been in recent winters. All and all we got lucky, but nonetheless I'm I'm still glad to see it go.

So goodbye winter and let's give a warm welcome to spring! My little man has been cooped up inside the house for too long - his entire life really. It's time to take him for long walks with Wonder Mutt, point out the birds, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels (no matter how much his father hates them -- more on that another day) and other animals that scamper by our house and let him enjoy the fresh air. And what better day to do this than the first day of spring.

Today our little family went to the neighboring town's forest for a bit of a walk/hike. This is certainly not Mr. Tall Guys cup of tea, but he suggested it to make up for the long hours he's been working. He carried Fussy Gus in the Baby Bjorn and its an area where Wonder Mutt is allowed to run around sans lease. For two hours it was just the four of us no cell phones, no laptops, no television. It was fantastic. A great way to kickoff spring!

And speaking of kickoff, notice the fancy new look of the blog?!?! I'm loving it!

McFatty Monday Week 9 -- The Horror!

2010-03-15T08:38:00.002-04:00

Those of you quick on the take will notice there was no Week 8 posting. Week 8 started after the Atlantic City road trip where I was supposed to alternate water with beer. And while that did happen occasionally, it didn't help. On the plus side it was a trip enjoyed by all. There was some quality time spent with Granny (my mom) and my sister (aka Mrs. Big Dubya) when we snuck off to the casino for a few hours one morning and started the day with either coffee with Baileys and whipped cream or hot chocolate with Baileys and whipped cream (Mrs. Big Dubya gave up coffee for lent). Granny got to spend quality time with her four grandkids and my sister and I got to go out with our husbands not one, not two, but THREE nights in a row for a couple of hours after the kids went to bed! Let's just say I decided not to step on a scale for McFatty Monday #8.

So where does Week 9 leave us? Up a pound, but I'm sufficiently scared straight. Strike that. I'm absolutely horrified at this moment and will be utterly fantastic at exercising and watching what I eat from this moment forward until I can correct this awfulness. What is the awfulness you may ask? It hurts me to type this, but....

I weigh more than my mother

And before you say that it's not a big deal, you just had a baby, blah, blah. Nope. Not cutting it. I've lost all my pregnancy weight. I'm about 10lbs less than when I got pregnant, I was just bigger when I got pregnant than I wanted to be. My mom weighs less than I do. Ugh! I typed it again! I need to fix this! Now! Ok, well it won't happen immediately, but no more doing this diet half-ass!

We're vacationing with Granny again the week of Memorial day and as long as I'm not pregnant again I WILL weigh less than her by that vacation. I will NOT be sitting by the pool with her knowing she weighs less than I do.

How sad is it that I'm in competition with my own mother? (and she does not know this by the way so don't tell her, ok? thanks!)

Blair asked a couple of questions over at her week 11 posting that are quite timely given my new poolside goal. Are you a bikini girl or a one-piece? Tankini? At times I had been a bikini girl although I probably never should have been. While I've weight less than I do now, I've never been in shape. I definitely prefer a tankini over a one piece -- when drinking by the pool or on the beach, one eventually needs to break the seal, so convenience is key for frequent bathroom breaks. On my last vacation which was just prior to getting pregnant with Fussy Gus (fine, it was when I got pregnant with Fussy Gus, but that's probably TMI), I was feeling a bit self conscious about the extra weight so I bought a tankini with a skirt bottom to try to cover up the extra weight. For the upcoming Memorial vacation I'm going to at the very least ditch the skirt and go back to a regular tankini, but I won't rule out a bikini if my new found inspiration to exercise goes well.

Have a great week!
Apparently P (trying out my new signature)

P.S. I have a fancy new blog layout coming your way. Hopefully it will be up for my Week 10 check-in where I'll have been kicking ass in my competition against Granny. Dear Lord I have so many issues....

McFatty Monday Week 7

2010-03-01T10:01:00.002-05:00

Week 7 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 9)

Zip, Zero, Zilch.

Stepped on the scale this morning and the same number I saw last week was looking back at me.

I'm not shocked. I had an ok week, but because Mr. Tall Guy was traveling I had pizza every night for dinner (there will be a post about this because it's there is a sweet reason behind it), so I'm not surprised it didn't translate into a lost this week. I resolve that this will be a better week! (and even as I type this I know that won't be true because I'm going away for the weekend with my sister's family and I know there will be plenty of libations and yummy food)

Skipping the Good & Bad....

The Results: No change this week on my scale. We'll have to wait until Wednesday to see what the WW scale says, but last Wednesday they showed me as down 1.0 lbs. So 4lbs down by my scale, 4 lbs down by WW scale.

Pounds to Goal: 7lbs 1st Goal, 13lbs to stretch goal (wedding weight)

Goals for the week: Try and control myself while away with my sister. And I'm going to alternate water with beer/wine when we go out. That's got to help, right?

McFatty Monday Week 6

2010-02-22T10:43:00.002-05:00

Week 6 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 8)

First off, thoughts and prayers go out to Blair. She not only has made many of us laugh (and sometimes cringe) with her candid blog posts and board postings, but she has inspired many of us to hop on the weight loss train with her and together we've probably collectively lost a couple of hundreds of pounds by now. Now she is being open about being diagnosed with PPD which I'm sure will help many who are dealing with it or suspect that they are dealing with it. Good luck seems like a strange thing to say about this, but it's the best I got, so good luck Blair!

And now for my McFatty Monday check in.

The good: I lost another pound per my scale.

The bad: Didn't really exercise last week, which was my goal and I really don't believe my scale because I fell off the WW wagon this weekend.

The Stupid: I forgot it was Wednesday so just prior to my WW weigh-in I was sitting at my desk chugging water. I gained .4 lbs when they weighed me when it should have been a loss. Normally I'd be thrilled because that would mean I was set up for a great weigh in this week, but see The bad above where I said I fell off the wagon this weekend.... Two steps forward, one step back.

The results: 1lb this week for a total of 4lbs by my scale. up .4 lbs for a total of 3.0lbs at Wednesdays WW weigh-in.

Pounds to Goal: 7lbs 1st Goal, 13lbs to stretch goal (wedding weight)

Goal for the week: Start the Couch to 5K program and blog about progress separate from the McFatty's weekly post. The treadmill is all set up for it so as soon as Fussy Gus goes down for bed tonight I'll be following the Week 1 podcast.

Have a great week!

A 5 what? A 5K? Are you insane?

2010-02-21T15:02:00.003-05:00

It's official. I've lost my mind. I've registered myself for a 5K race. I have 9 weeks to get ready for it so in addition to my McFatty Monday posts I'm going to chronicle the weeks leading up the the race. My hopes is that training for the race is going to jump start my weight loss and get me to my goal weight.

Training was supposed to start today, but Fussy Gus was extremely fussy last night and Aunt P got close to zero sleep so we're going back to our procrastinating ways and starting tomorrow. It's actually fitting since tomorrow is a McFatty Monday, or at least that's what I tell myself.

Wish me luck!

McFatty Monday Week 5

2010-02-15T10:06:00.003-05:00

Week 5 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 7)

The great news is that Blair is doing fabulous. 16 pounds in 6 full weeks. The eh news is that my weight loss is moving a snail's pace. This week brings the total to 3 lbs in 4 full weeks. I knew it would be slow, but an average of less than a pound a week is frustratingly slow. I'd really like to be done and at my goal weight. Can someone make that happen for me? Fantastic! I really appreciate it!

Ok, so I know that's not going to happen, so I guess I'll just have to pick up the pace myself and actually hit some of the goals I've been setting for myself.

The good: I did lose a pound per my scale.

The bad: Ever since Blair mentioned Red Robin last week I had to have it and it was delicious!

The results: 1lb this week for a total of 3lbs by my scale. 1.2 lbs for a total of 3.4lbs at Wednesdays WW weigh-in.

Pounds to Goal: 8lbs 1st Goal, 14lbs to stretch goal (wedding weight)

Goal for the week: Exercise!

Have a great week!

Lessons from the "Storm that wasn't"

2010-02-11T09:59:00.005-05:00

For days we were showered with warnings about the nor'easter headed our way. Hell, I got an email from my supermarket (?!?!?!) telling me a storm was coming and it came with a list of things I should consider stocking up on. Schools canceled or declared early dismissal in advance. People worked from home and then when it came time for the heavens to open up, nothing. Sure some areas got some snow, but this is all about me and we got all of two inches.

Rewinding a bit, as a new mom this storm put forth new decisions I had to make. Snow wasn't supposed to start until late morning and it wasn't going to be heavy until the afternoon. Do I work from home and keep Fussy Gus with me? Do I go into work and pick him up once it starts snowing? How bad will the roads be? These are hard enough decisions without Granny chiming in begging me to stay and work at home.

Finally I decide to go to work. I'm still in the parking lot when the phone rings and it's daycare telling me that they are closing by 2. Mr. Tall Guy had dropped him off less than 30 minutes before. Seriously, did the forecast change? It hadn't even started snowing yet!

At 1:00 there are light flurries, but not wanting to be the last baby there, I pack up to go get him. He's sleeping and it was his first nap so I was advised not to wake him. Great. Now if I wake him I look like a bad mother, so I wait. For 40 minutes because he's still sleeping.

Finally I get home and he's wide awake and I learn that it's impossible to work from home with an infant. (I'm sure it's not really impossible, but it's impossible for me. I'm sure with some practice I'd be better...) Essentially much of the day becomes a wash and for what? NOTHING. We got two inches of snow at the most. The much hyped storm was the Storm that wasn't. Lessons learned? 1) I'm at the mercy of daycare 2) Never trust weathermen! and 3) not everyone appreciates hearing a baby while on a conference call

McFatty Monday Week 4

2010-02-08T09:04:00.003-05:00

Week 4 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 6)

So last week we had depressing, yet not surprising, results. I tend to do this. I had a good loss per the WW scale the week before, and then I go bat shit crazy and stop paying attention to what I eat because I'm doing great on my diet. Huh? Makes no sense you say? Well that's because it doesn't, but yet it's what I do. According to G.I. Joe, knowing is half the battle, but not in my case because I know yet I still do. Last week I swore to do better and here's the results.

The good: Didn't really journal, but tried to control myself a bit better at lunch during the week. Friday's Tuna melt wasn't my best choice, but the rest of the week wasn't bad. WonderMutt was walked three times. Water intake was good. And Superbowl snacks wasn't as bad as it normally would have been.

The bad: WonderMutt got screwed. Forget the weight loss, the dog deserves to be walked before being abandoned all day while we're at work. (So no one reports me to PITA, he does have a decent sized fenced in yard that he was let to entertain himself in the mornings, but he's a high energy dog and should get a walk in addition to that). I didn't care about the teams in the super bowl, but I do watch it for the snacks and the commercials. I had a couple of fried mozzarella sticks plus a couple of nachos (made with turkey chili!) and only a couple of beers, but still, I should have stayed clear. I did skip dinner in lieu of snacks which one would argue is also not a good idea, but at least I saved on calories!

The really, really, getting out of hand bad: 5K is now only 11 weeks away and nothing. Haven't trained at all. This is not looking good.

The results: To recap - last Monday my scale showed a two lb gain so I was plus 1 for the McFatty program. I weighed in on Wednesday for Weight Watchers and it showed a 1 lb gain, so I was down 1.2 lbs for the WW program. Today my scale shows a 3lb loss from last Monday, so I'm down 2 lbs for McFatty Mondays. Not great, but much better than last week. WooHoo!

Non-scale somewhat victory: I tried on a pair of a size smaller jeans and I got into them. There was a bit of muffin top happening so I didn't wear them, but hopefully it will be motivation to stay on track this week.

Goal for this week: Begin the training for the 5K. Enough is enough! Can't put it off any longer!

Have a great week!
-AuntP

Sleeping like a baby...

2010-02-07T14:31:00.003-05:00

I had planned on moving Gus out of the bassinet and into his own room at 3 months. Well 3 months came a lot quicker than I thought it would and it was at 3 months that it was time for me to go back to work and for Gus to go to daycare. With so much change going on, it didn't seem like a good idea to move him. What if it was the straw that broke the camel's back? Yeah right. I just wasn't ready for him to leave me.

Four months came and the crib was all set up. But we had a doctor's appointment in a couple of days and why not make sure that the little man was on track before moving him. Again, I wasn't ready yet. Doctor's appointment comes and all is great, but we shouldn't do it on a work night in case it goes badly.

Then it was the weekend, but at bedtime I realized we hadn't set up the monitor. Oh well, one more night wouldn't hurt. And then it was time. Our little man moved into his own room, into his crib. He was GINORMOUS in his bassinet, but now looks so tiny in his crib. He was ready. I was not. I know it seems silly, but I teared up as I got him dressed for bed. He went down with little fuss and when I checked on him later that night he was sleeping like a baby. My little boy is growing up and has turned me into a complete and utter sap! But we did it. He stayed in his crib all night (minus a 1am feeding) and another milestone has passed too quickly for this new mom...
Sleep tight little man...

McFatty Monday Week 3

2010-02-01T11:28:00.004-05:00

Week 3 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 5)

Hmm... Not sure what happened. I'd like to say my scale is broken, but I doubt that's it. I fell off the wagon this weekend. I know that. But I had a pretty good work week. How can do two bad days more than undue 5 pretty good days?

The good: The goal of 80 ounces of WATER went well. I sometimes lost count, but I hit it or came very close every day. I walked WonderMutt 5 days and while some of them were shorter walks due to our inability to stay on a morning schedule to save our lives, I did better this week than last.

The bad: The weekend. Went out for a girls night on Saturday night and there was great wine, a lot of great wine, plus great food. We're talking filet wrapped in bacon, mashed potatoes, pasta... It was gooood... plus a few other food encounters that weren't in my best interest.

The really bad: the 5K race is now only 12 weeks a way and I still haven't started the couch to 5K program. 12 weeks isn't that far away. Really need to get my ass in gear.

The Results: From my scale (can't believe I'm going to admit this) I'm +1. Not +1 for the week, but +1 for McFatty Mondays as in I weigh more than when I started this two weeks ago! Yikes! I don't think this is accurate, but that's what the scale said. I'm not happy.

From Weight Watchers I was down 2.2 on Wednesday. I weigh in again this Wednesday so we'll see what it says. Either way, I need to be better this week/weekend -- Superbowl be damned!

Goal for next week: Journal. I hate to journal, but obviously something went very wrong last week and I need to figure out what it was. Oh and stick with the water.

Have a good week!

McFatty Monday Week 2

2010-01-25T12:12:00.004-05:00

Week 2 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 4)

So last week I put it in writing that I resolved that this time would be different because I wanted to set a good example for my son by eating well and being active. It's almost liked he sensed my resolve would someday cost him chocolate milk, fast food, fatty snacks and endless hours in front of the TV either watching it or playing video games. That's right - my own son sabotaged me! Well that's only partially true. I did a fair amount of sabotaging myself, but his decision to stop sleeping didn't help matters!

So here's my update.

The Good: I walked WonderMutt 5 days last week. I drank at least 80oz of liquids each day and I enrolled in the Weight Watchers at work program. And I even got a salad for lunch one day.

The Bad: Went out for Mexican Friday night and ate a ton of the delicious chips and salsa that they served, plus I had a couple of beers. And instead of just getting a coffee from Dunkin Donuts Saturday & Sunday, I decided to take comfort in the form of a coffee roll BOTH mornings. And finally I did not start training for the 5K which is now only 13 weeks away...

The just Eh: I think that all five of WonderMutt's walks were abbreviated because of the morning schedule snafu of Gus not sleeping at night. And the 80 oz I drank was low-cal liquids, not necessarily water which was the intended goal.

The Results: Down 1lb on my home scale. I won't know about the WW scale until Wednesday.

Am I happy? Yes. Down is down and it's a number I haven't seen in a while so I'm glad about that, but it could have been more. And it will be next week.

Week 2 Goals: Drink at least 80 oz of WATER this week. Start the Couch to 5K training plan.

See you next week!

2010-01-24T07:45:00.002-05:00

It's hard to imagine that one year ago today I threw out the best news of my life. That's right, I threw it out. Rewinding a bit. Mr. Tall Guy and I had decided that the time was right to expand our little family, but thanks to a mild case of pcos and irregular cycles, it didn't happen right away and we were fine with that. But because of the irregular cycles, I should have bought stock in the pregnancy test company because I peed on sticks rather frequently! This brings me to one year ago today...

It was a regular Saturday morning. Being used to getting up early, I got up to take care of the dog while Mr. Tall Guy slept in. But before going out in the cold (it was January in New England after all!) I swung by the bathroom and decided that I might as well pee on a stick while I was at it. I took WonderMutt out, fed him breakfast and then went to retrieve my stick.

There it was, clear as day, a bold line. Into the trash it goes. I made a pot of coffee curled up on the couch with my dog and laptop. But then I stopped. Was there something else next to the line? Nah. Well maybe....

I went to look in the trash and luckily it was still on top and back in it's wrapper so it wasn't gross - well it was gross because I had peed on said stick, but at least it didn't old mashed potatoes on it! So I look again and there was something very faint next to the bold line. So back to the bathroom I go to get the test directions which were pretty much useless for the question I wanted answered. I then calmly went to the First Response website to see what it said. It's a .pdf of the directions that were in the box. Great. For the record "One line may be lighter than the other" is not very helpful. I wanted examples. I wanted proof. Was I knocked up or not?!?! So I put the test on the counter above the trash barrel and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Finally Mr. Tall Guy gets up and as soon as he comes down stairs I asked him to look at what I left on top of the trash. I can't really describe the sound he made, but I'll try -- something like an excited squeak of happiness and terror all at once. To be honest, he didn't really know what he was looking at. Just the fact that I wanted him to look at a pregnancy test caused that reaction because he assumed what it would mean and asked him what he thought of the something. Was it a second line or was it just something? Hmmm... After much debate, and trying not to get our hopes up, we decided that it looked good, but we wait until the next morning to take another test to see what it would say (first morning pee being the best and all).

Later in the day I went to Target and even though I had pregnancy tests at home, I decided to upgrade us to a digital test for the next mornings pee on a stick routine. And while I was at it I might as well buy a two pack. I was home all of 5 minutes when I figured that since I had a two pack there was no reason like the present to try one out and save the other for the morning. And there you have it. Within seconds I had the no denying it "Yes+" on the test. We were having a baby. A baby which was only the size of a poppy-seed that day. 250 days later we got to meet that baby. My poppy-seed grew to be an 8lb 4oz, 20 1/2 inches long, healthy baby boy.

Has it been all roses since he was born? Absolutely not, but I wouldn't change a second of it. There is no doubt that this is the best adventure of my life and that adventure started one year ago today.

P.S. Yes, I took a picture of the test and this is it. At least I didn't keep my urine soaked stick!

Aunt P's Joining McFatty Monday!

2010-01-18T12:02:00.003-05:00

Week 1 of HeirToBlair's McFatty Monday (they are on week 3 - my procrastinating sticks again!)

I had every intention of joining this on January 4th along with everyone else, but then I realized I need to link to my blog and while I had a blog it had long since been abandoned. So I then I decided I would just read along with the rest of the McFatties, but it wasn’t working. Let’s face it, I need it subject myself to public humiliation in order to get this done. So I dusted off the blog last week with a daycare post and here I begin my McFatty Monday journey.

Background story, aka why the hell I’m doing this and why it will be different this time: I’ve always been on the chubby side. Some years I’ve been chubbier than others and even the years I’ve been my thinnest, I’ve never been in shape. Why is that you may ask? Well I’m lazy. I love television. I love bad for me food. I love beer. And I really don’t like exercise. Even when I was at my thinnest it was achieved through dieting and not through exercising.

How did I put on the weight this time? I’d like to say it’s because I just had a baby but it’s not. I did put on weight during my pregnancy and while it was a little more than I would have liked, I did keep it in the 25 – 35 lbs range (about 33lbs), but the truth of the matter was my weight was creeping up before I got pregnant. Some of it was stress related around getting pregnant. It wasn’t easy and I had a lot of anxiety around it, plus I really like bad for you food as well as alcoholic beverages. So while the weight I gained during my pregnancy is gone (thank you breastfeeding and being to tired to eat!), I still have the weight I gained before my pregnancy to deal with.

Why will this time be different? I don’t want to be a chubby mom and I don’t want to be an unhappy mom. I am not happy with how I look right now and I know that it is spilling over into how I feel about myself. I logically know that I am more than my appearance, but emotionally I’m having a hard time separating it. And I want to be a good role model for my son. I need to set good examples by eating better and being more active. Plus we’d like to have a second baby and I know that both of us would be better off if we started the pregnancy at a healthier weight.

How much do I want to lose? I would be ecstatic to lose 22 lbs, but that would put me at a weight I was never able to maintain so I'm going to say 17 lbs. 17lbs would put me at my wedding day weight and I would be very happy if I could get there again and stay there. While these may not seem like big numbers to some, it’s a lot on my body. I’m only 5’ 1”, and an extra 5, 10, 15 lbs makes a huge difference.

How am I going to do it? It’s a three-part plan and the first part has already been implemented. In fact it was kicked off on January 4th when the rest of the McFatties started this. I’m going to take my dog for his morning walk five times a week. His morning walk is just under 2 miles. We’ve had to shorten it a couple of times because we are getting used to a new morning schedule now that I’m back to work, but I have walked him every morning before work. Part 2 is to follow the Weight Watchers Plan. The new WW at work program kicks off this Wednesday at my office and I will be joining. Part 3 is training for a 5K race. I’ve never been a runner, but have always thought that if I did run then the weight would just fall off of me while I’m dieting. Time to test the theory. To train for the 5K race I’m going to follow the Couch to 5K

How will I track my progress? Duh, the scale! My home scale and the WW scale. I'm also going to try and remember to take my measurements tonight (scary!) and take what I'm sure will be a very unflattering photo tonight, which will never be posted for you to see!

4/26/10 Goal – 14 weeks from today: Walk the dog at least 5x a week. Train for and run a 5K race (am registering for a 4/25/10 race) and lose 11lbs. Stretch Goal: Lose 17lbs.

Week 1 Goal: Drink 80 ounces of water a day.

Sorry this is so long. I’m sure Week 2’s update will be much shorter. plan.

Did you miss me?

2010-01-13T10:24:00.002-05:00

Hmmm… So it’s been a while. Nineteen months to be exact, so I guess it has been quite a while. And a lot has changed since then. Not only am I AuntP, but I’m also MammyP. Back in October Mr. Tall Guy and I were lucky enough to welcome a healthy and happy baby boy to our family and I’m happy to report that WonderMutt has adjusted nicely to his new, non-hairy brother.

So why have I dusted off the blog? I’m not quite sure. My pregnancy was uneventful so I didn’t feel a need to document it and life after the baby was too busy to think of documenting it, but now I’m back at work and the baby, we’ll call him Gus, is in daycare full time, I feel the need. Also, I want to join McFatty Monday, but I’ll get to that later.

Gus has been in daycare for a week and ½ now and it’s going well. And I had been doing ok with it. While I don’t love my job, I don’t mind it and it’s nice to have other adults to talk to during the day. The dramas of the high-tech world now seem less significant than they once did, but it’s nice to contribute to the success of projects I’m involved in. Notice I said I had been doing ok with it and I guess I still am, but a sad and a happy thing happened yesterday. I knew that it would happen eventually, but it still stings. Gus had (achieved?) a milestone yesterday at daycare. He rolled over. I should be as ecstatic as first time mothers are supposed to be. My big boy rolled over! But I didn’t see it. And although I tried to get him to do it this morning, he didn’t. And how did I find out about this? In his daily report. I READ about it. Doesn’t the daycare know that they should lie about this stuff? They should tell me that they think he’s just about it do it and watch for it this weekend. But no. They told the truth and I’m left with a bitter sweet feeling of being proud of him and torn-up about it because I missed it.

I’m probably overreacting. It’s rolling over. It’s not his first word or his first step, but it’s something he did for the first time and I missed it. And I’m a bit sad about it….

Oh and while I’m now MammyP, I’ll still go by AuntP. Not that it matters because no one (with maybe the exception of Mrs. Big Dubya) will read/find this blog :)

Happy Birthday!

2008-06-26T15:08:00.002-04:00

I can't even say I've been bad about blogging because six months since you're last post is beyond bad, but today I'm back for a very special reason.

Happy Birthday Mrs. Big Dubya!

(aka my sister who people think that I may be older then even though I'm not)

I hope you are having a great day!

Love,

Aunt P

She's crazy!

2008-01-24T14:17:00.001-05:00

Today I had a doctor's appointment in the town where I grew up. Yeah, I know. I haven't lived within 40 miles of that area for more than six years, but I still go to the doctor's there. What can I say? 1) It's well documented that I'm lazy and I like to procrastinate and 2) Who really wants to start establishing new relationships with doctors when you only have to inconvenience yourself once or twice a year to keep the old one. But I digress...

So while I'm in town I figured I'd stop by my parent's house. I called my mam (Granny to those readers of the Dubyas blogs) to remind her I'm on my way and she does the nice mammy thing to say she's looking forward to it and could I stay for a quick lunch after my appointment. I figured sure, what's an extra half hour or so. Off to the doctor's I go.....

On the way back from the doctors, I call mam:

Aunt P: Hi Mammy. I wasn't sure if you had anything already in for lunch, or should I stop and bring something back with me?

Mammy: Oh you know, I just had a dropped egg on toast. But I can go and buy you something? Or do you want a dropped egg on toast?

Aunt P: Don't worry about it. I'll be at the house in a few minutes.

End call.

Huh? Did that really just happen? Hello short term memory! Or is she just crazy! I'm thinking crazy!

I'm getting my car back!

2008-01-14T11:45:00.000-05:00

4K in damages turned into $5500, but that's why we have insurance. The real question though is how the heck did I do so much damage when I couldn't have been going more than 15 miles an hour! Either way I was quite pleased to return the rental this weekend and am looking forward to going back to my new and improved RAV4 this afternoon. Of course as luck would have it, we're in the midst of a snowstorm.... Should I even ask what the chances are that something happens on the home?!? Let's just say I'll be driving like a granny to be on the safe side!

The holidays are over!

2008-01-02T18:36:00.000-05:00

And what a holiday season it was. Where to begin, where to begin...

The holiday season started early this year. Mr. Tall Guy, Wunder Mutt and I headed over to Granny and Grandad's on the 22nd to celebrate with Mr & Mrs Dubya, their kids and Uncle RoRo. This meant that all the shopping and wrapping needed to be done by the 22nd as well. Shopping was going well until I got the annual call from my father and brother asking me to complete 1/2 of their shopping (the other 1/2 was to be done by my sister -- my brother wouldn't hear of me buying my own gift, just everyone elses). Somehow all of it got done in time for the family gathering and we all had a lovely time. The food was good, the gifts were plentiful and the children were adorable.

The next day I packed up Mr Tall Guy because he was going to visit his family for the actual Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. After he had left I decided to go visit the Dubyas and as I pulled up I decided to run smack dab into Mr. Dubya's car. Did I mention that I got a brand new car just three months ago? Yeah... My hood crumpled like it was designed to and Mr. Dubya's car? Well it had a smudge on it's spare tire. Yeah that it's right. While my car has about 4K in damages, Mr. Dubya's was fine. In the battle of Toyota vs. Honda, the Honda won hands down. In fairness the only part of contact between my car and his was with his spare tire, so I suppose we can say that the Honda spare tire won.

After a wonderful Christmas Eve baking cookies with my Godson and waking up to watching 'lil dub & dubyette opening their gifts from Santa, I needed to head back to dinner with Granny & Grandad. The car was drivable, or at least I thought. 75 miles into the trip the car goes haywire on the Massachusetts Turnpike. I then waited for 3 hours to be towed.... Luckily Uncle RoRo came to my rescue and picked me up. We were only two hours late for Christmas dinner....

So now I have a rental car. Luckily no one was hurt and I would have felt terrible if I had done any real damage to Dub's car, but let's just say I was ready for the days of Christmas to be over and to start the New Year. How was your holidays?

What's So Wrong With Practical Gifts?

2007-12-13T20:54:00.000-05:00

The holidays can be a stressful time for people. Even though we know it's coming, things just seem to get a little frantic around this time of year. And most of it is stress we put on ourselves. Seriously think about it. While it's understandable that you want to find the perfect gifts for the people you are closest too, these are the same people that wouldn't want you driving yourself crazy because of them! But we do it anyways...

And now to the point of my post. What is the perfect gift? Does it have to be something that they wouldn't buy for themselves? Maybe one of the reasons they wouldn't buy it for themselves is because they wouldn't get much use out of it. Wouldn't a better gift be something that they will get use of? Sure. You can dress it up a little. Maybe get a nicer version of something they will get use of? Don't you want them to use the gift you got them? So it may be a bit on the practical side but it shows that you know them enough to know what they need. How can there be something wrong with that?

Apparently my brother-in-law thinks that there is. He thinks that I must not be comfortable with gift giving because I get people non-flashy, practical gifts. I for one think that my mother will be very please with the all-weather, heavy duty floor mats that I got her for her brand new car. On one hand I could have gotten her a sweater she'll wear once every couple of weeks for two seasons of the year or on the other hand I could get her floor mats that will protect her new car and she'll use pretty much every day for the next five or six years.

I say practical gifts win!

WooHoo! I'm finished!

2007-12-12T11:58:00.000-05:00

As of five past midnight last night I finished this semester's graduate class. My 4,000 - 5,000 word paper was due at midnight and by golly I got it in within minutes of it's due time. Does it matter that ti was a couple of minutes past it's due time? I would like to think not, but I guess I'll find out later... This feat was even more remarkable by the fact that at 8:15 that night I only a mere1850 words written and the finished paper had ~4100. Was it my best work? Not even close, but it also wasn't my worst. I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm a bad student.

On the bright side I know I did enough to get a decent grade, pass the class and now be done with 6 of my 10 classes. WooHoo!

With school work out of the way I can now put all of my attention on the upcoming holiday season. First thing on the list is to finish decorating the Christmas tree. The tree is up and it has lights on it. It even has my brand new tree toppper on it, but no ornaments. Once that is done it's time for a little photo shoot with wonder mutt to see if I can top last year's Christmas card (shouldn't be hard!). And then there is the shopping...

This year I actually got an early start. I was doing so well but then I lost momentum. If all goes well I'm hoping to be done by this Sunday. It's unlikely, but I'm going to give it my all. Either that or get drunk... decisions, decisions....

What tops your Christmas tree?

2007-12-10T11:41:00.000-05:00

And before you start, yes it is a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree.

Growing up we usually had very sad Christmas trees. They were pathetic really, but that is a topic for another post. I remember having a star that had colored lights on it and I think it might have been trimmed in garland (not sure the color garland), but we didn't have it for many Christmas', so maybe our dog ate it (our dog destroying stuff wasn't uncommon). Then I remember one year where we had this straw doll thing. Maybe it was supposed to be an angel, but it was big. And my parents have a small living room, so our tree was typically short and thin, so this straw doll thing was way to big for it. The rest of the years the top of our tree was empty. Granny may occasionally put something up there, but we didn't have that moment that you see on TV where the tree just isn't done until that touching moment where someone lifts up a child to put the tree topper on.

I've been out of my parent's house for a number of years now and I get tree, but the top of the tree has been empty. I've looked for an angel, a star, or a whatever but usually I find the ones in the stores to be awful. And because I grew up with a short thin tree, I tend to get trees that are short and thin. If you go early, you can get a great petite tree and while big trees are great, I'm very happy with my small one, but again I face the challenge of finding an appropriate sized tree topper. On top of the size issue, there is the question of angel vs star? Or something else entirely?

So what tops your tree? Angel? Star? Bow? Something else entirely or nothing? If you do have something up there, does it light up? And when do you put it on? Is it the last thing on the tree to imitate that touching TV moment?

The drama of getting Red Sox tickets...

2007-12-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

Every year I try to get Red Sox tickets and every year I get stuck in the virtual waiting room. For hours on end I wait looking at the screen. Watching the countdown as it refreshes every 30 seconds. Then the moment will occur where I break through the virtual waiting room and am about to to purchase tickets but find out that it's just a tease. Two seats together don't exist anywhere in the ballpark for the game I randomly selected to attend. I'm talking about no where -- even the expensive seats! So you go back and try a different game and wait again in the virtual waiting room and the vicious cycle continues...

Same story every year, several times a year in fact because the Red Sox release tickets in batches. Yesterday the Sox PAX and select single game tickets went on sale for the pre-holiday rush. My husband wasted most of the day looking at the virtual waiting room with no luck. After four hours I told him to give up because I knew it would turn out like most years. Two hours after that he decided to give up. Another year without visiting Fenway... But wait! The Red Sox decided to spread a little more holiday cheer this afternoon and made available some additional single game tickets and I pounced on it. I got picked from the virtual waiting room in less than an hour. There was hope of getting two tickets together, but no. The pathetic online ordering system that the Red Sox use failed me again. The little verification code box wasn't displaying the strange number/letter combo for me to type in and without it you are now where, so back to the virtual waiting room...

Wait! New idea. Let's use the phone. Couple of dozen tries and I get through. The automated voice takes all of your information prior to letting you find tickets, but I'm yet again hopeful. Credit card number. Check! Month of expiration. Check! Two digit year of expiration... Crap. Apparently the Red Sox phone ticket ordering system doesn't believe that you can have a credit card that expires in 2011 and there is no way to go back and change the credit card number you had already entered, so I'm back to square one. I love the Red Sox. Nothing is better than watching a game in Fenway Park on a nice sunny day with an overpriced beer, but this is really starting to piss me off!

I'm back to the phone while keeping an eye on two laptops that are each in a virtual waiting room. After 1/2 dozen tries I'm back through on the phone system. Successfully make it through the credit card information and mailing address parts now it's on to the game selection. After trying four different categories of seats, I was victorious! Come September 10th, 2008 I will be attending in person probably my only Red Sox game of the 2008 season.

From a customer experience perspective, the Red Sox ticket ordering system has major, major flaws. It desperately needs to be replaced, but then again, regardless of how bad it is, folks like me (and a couple of others that may stumble across this post), will put up with it in order to have the chance of getting tickets...

Ok, now back to my paper....

I may be lazy, but I'm back....

2007-12-09T11:57:00.000-05:00

So I took some time off from blogging. Some time is a bit of an understatement since it has been about five months. I don't believe I have many readers (and if I did, they will have deserted me by now) so probably not many noticed. Anyway I'm back. There are probably a couple of questions like why were you gone and why are you suddenly back?

Why did I stop blogging? My life is pretty boring and sometimes I find it hard to find things to post about but the truth of the matter is that I'm just plain lazy. It's sad, but it's true. So that leads to the second question....

Why am I suddenly back? My loyal readers (anyone out there?) may recall that I'm going to grad school and they may ask recall that in addition to being lazy, I'm also a procrastinator. If you put two and two together then you'll quickly realize that I have to write a paper and blogging is a very convenient way to postpone it...

My prediction for today is that while I'm writing my very long paper that is due on Tuesday, (can you believe it? I'm actually working on this prior to the day before it's actually due?) that every few hours you will get some random post that I'll use as way to work through my writer block.

Wish me luck...

the lazy, but hopefully lovable, Aunt P

What type of packer are you?

2007-07-11T15:24:00.000-04:00

In my previous job I travelled quite a bit and I must say that I got pretty good at packing - for business trips that is. When I go on vacation however I will keep adding things until I fill up all the available space in my bag. Anyone else do this?

I think the way you pack can tell a lot about a person. Actually traveling in general tells you a lot about a person. You really don't know a person until you go on a week long vacation with them, but I digress.

Types of packers:

The week before packer: Do they do this because they are the occasional, nervous nelly traveler? Or if they travel a bit more frequently, perhaps they are one of those super organized freaks. Or worse, they just have too much time on their hands. Regardless of the reason, traveling with them would annoy me.

The night before packer: This one I can deal with. It's reasonable. The trip is tomorrow after all. And this way you have time to remember something that you might have forgotten and it gives you time to recover if something you planned on bringing needs to be washed. This person is probably a stable, dependable, not overly neurotic person.

The very last second packer: This is the person that will get up at 3am to pack, water the plants, send out a few emails and set the out of office message on before leaving the house at 4:30 (meant to leave by 4:15 at the latest) to get on the 6:15am flight to somewhere wonderful. This person is clearly insane. But let's face it. They don't let the details bother them. They're spontaneous. If they forgot something, they'll just live without it or buy one on their travels. They may be insane, slightly irresponsible, and definitely disorganized, but also probably fun.

And finally, the person who doesn't pack for themselves: Assuming that this isn't a child, this one is just inexcusable. If you are able to dress yourself in the morning, then you should be able to pack yourself. Getting someone else to pack for you indicates laziness.

Did I forget any? Are you or do you live with a different type of packer?

So.... if you've been reading my posts for the past few days you already know that I'm a procrastinator so it should be no surprise that I'm a very last minute packer. I'm right now sitting in my cube thinking of the things I forgot for the trip that I'm leaving for directly from work. No worries. I'll just get them when I get there if it turns out I can't live without band-aids. (I packed cute, but bad shoes for the party I'm going to). And chances are my sister, who I'm going on the trip with, will have some. She's a pack the night before type, or at least she was before the kids. And she's an over-packer, which can come in handy for the forgetful types like myself.

Bon Voyage! And you never know, the next post may be live from Dublin....

This is starting to get a little stressful...

2007-07-10T18:19:00.000-04:00

Just checking in. Less than six hours left and not done yet. Not even done with one of them. Why do I do this? Not really sure. Why am I posting instead of writing my paper? I could lie and say I wanted to give you an update in case you were concerned about me, but the truth was I can't stay focused on what I'm doing and this seemed like a good way to put it off further.

Ok, back to work...

UPDATE: Done with 20 minutes to spare.... I know. I'm pathetic. But I'm done! Only five classes to go!

Who doesn't love a good deadline?

2007-07-09T15:29:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I'm also a part time grad student. At the end of tomorrow I will be 1/2 way through my program. This is where the deadline comes in. I took a week long intensive class the week of June 9th. Prior to that week we had some prep work to do and at the conclusion of the week we were given two assignments that needed to be completed by July 10th. The two assignments are just two short papers. One paper that is to include 15 figures of speech and the other, well I can't remember off hand what it is, but I think it was something about rewriting an argument towards a different target audience. As I mentioned, they are due tomorrow. Have I started either of them yet? Not so much.

I like to tell myself that I work better under pressure and because of that it is ok that I leave things to the last minute. The truth of the matter however is that I'm just a procrastinator. My work isn't any better under a time crunch. I just always put things off. I start off with the intention of doing it early, but it just never happens. Hi. My name is Aunt P and I'm a procrastinator. Do you suffer from the same problem? They say admitting you have a problem is the first step...

Greek Style Pizza

2007-07-05T10:49:00.000-04:00

I love pizza. Especially if it has a good sauce and they aren't stingy with it -- what can I say, I'm a saucy type of girl -- but I'm not particularly fond of greek style pizza. I'm starting to wonder though if my definition of greek style pizza is made up. From time to time I seem to make up my own definitions for things and after a while it becomes fact to me and I'm wondering if this is the case in this instance.

So what is my definition of greek pizza? Well it's the pizza that you typically found in your local<insert town name> House of Pizza. It's cooked in a pan that has sides (see picture above), yet it's not pan pizza because the crust is not overly think. The crust itself is a crispy/crunchy and the pizza tends to be a little greasy. So why am I doubting my definition? (you may especially curious if you agree with my definition)

Tuesday night Mr Tall Guy and I decided to get a pizza from someplace we hadn't tried before, but I didn't want greek style pizza so I called to first check. The first place was confused with my question, but told me yes they had greek style. The second place though told me that no, it was regular thin crust pizza. Yes, folks we have a winner! I order a large cheese and off we go. Mr. Tall Guy hops out of the car to get it, gets back in and immediately I can smell that it's greek style. I'm not sure what the smell difference is, but there is one and I can tell the difference. Mr. Tall Guy is amazed by my skill, and yes indeed it's a greek style pizza. So the question is, was I talking to an idiot that didn't know what greek style pizza is? Or am I the idiot for making it up?

WANTED: Movie Recommendations

2007-07-03T12:51:00.000-04:00

I believe I've confessed here before that I am a television addict. I just love the small screen. Unfortunately though I'm having a hard time this summer finding enough TV to fill my off hours. My Tivo just isn't filling up the way it does from September to May. Sure I get my daily dose of soaps, but once I buzz through that in the evenings I'm left with little to nothing else to watch. It's gotten so bad that I'm almost looking forward to Thursday's episode of the Pirate Master! (for those of you that are not familiar with it, be thankful. It's terrible -- well except that fact that some of them will tell others that they hate them - to their faces! Generally that only happens in the confessionals or to other cast mates).

To help fill the void we've been renting movies, but so far most have bee pretty awful. So I'm asking, does anyone have any movie recommendations?

2007-06-29T10:11:00.000-04:00

Jury duty was a bust. First I was 30 minutes late because I couldn't find a parking garage near the courthouse. (This just confirmed that I will never live in the city - always having a place to park is worth living in the burbs!) Luckily they expect everyone to be late and I really got there at the perfect time to be ushered into the jury assembly room to be given an overview of what was going to happen and then to watch a 17 minute film on what it means to be a juror. After that I waited. And waited some more. And still some more. Then the man, court officer I imagine since he was in uniform, came back and told us that all but the people numbered 1 - 30 could go to lunch. I was number 113, so me and about 150 other people went to the cafe which caused one heck of a line! Back to the jury assembly room where around 1:00 the man came back and said he had some good news and some bad news and not to kill the messenger. There were 3 trials that we were potentially going to be jurors for. The first settled, the second got a continuance and the third, well the third needed a jury - a six person jury and some of us were going up and some of us were being dismissed for the day. Since I already said that jury duty was a bust, I'm sure there isn't much suspense at this point. Standby jurors 1 - 37 were sent up to be narrowed down to 6 jurors and some alternates and the rest of use got sent home. I'm not sure if 1 - 30 every got to go to lunch or not, but they did get a closer look at the wheels of justice than I did.

I'll admit that I was a little disappointed that I didn't even make it out of the room, but I did learn some things. The average trial lasts 4 days and they will give you an estimate upfront for how long they think it will be so if you have a conflict, you can let it be known -- not that it may matter, but still. There can be either a 6 or 12 person jury plus alternates. The alternates are not told they are alternates until the end so that they pay attention throughout the whole trial. And while in Massachusetts you serve for one day or one trial, there are some states that when you server, you serve for an entire month! yikes!

My civic duty is complete for the next three years. Maybe the next time I'll actually make it into a courtroom!

Jury Duty - love it? or hate it?

2007-06-27T10:39:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is the day. I've got jury duty. Now I know this is something that many people dread, but I'm actually looking forward to it. This is the first time that I've been summoned to do what I consider to be my civic duty. I'm actually excited to see the wheels of justice in motion. Before you say it, I know. I'm naive. It's probably going to be a big let down. Chances are I won't be selected. I probably won't even make it out of the room. Instead I'll just waste a beautiful summer day sitting locked in a room waiting to be called. But that's ok. I've been summoned and I'm going in. I have no idea what to expect, but it doesn't matter. Either way I'm sure there will be something in the day that will be blog worthy. Plus it should give me time to finish the baby blanket I've been working on for 'Lil Dubyette (yeah, I'm a little behind on that). Speaking of which, anyone know if you can you bring crochet hooks into a courthouse? They're not considered a weapon, right? I know you can bring them on planes....

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you....

2007-06-26T10:03:00.001-04:00

Please join me in wishing a very Happy Birthday to my sister, Mrs. Big Dubya! Which exact birthday she is celebrating will not be mentioned but I will say that she is much younger than Mr. Big Dubya. I'm sure she'd love it if you made your way over to her blog and wished her a Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday and I hope you have a great day!

Why do I do it?

2007-06-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

So I've started yet another diet today. I'm about 15 lbs over what I'd like to be, but would be happy to get rid of 10 lbs and maintain. I know, 10lbs doesn't sound too bad, but I tend to sabotage myself when I get close to what I want to lose and start eating all the bad foods that I've been avoiding and then all the weight comes back. Then I get frustrated by the way I look and feel and start another diet. I was at the peak of my frustration late last week and knew I needed to start my new diet. This is where things get curious. Once I get to my frustrated zone I then have to eat all the bad stuff I have in my house to get "rid" of it and I also order or go out for a particular bad meal just to get it out of my system. If I'm going to diet, and I mean diet for real this time, I might as well make it as bad as possible, right? Yeah, I'm pretty much crazy.

So this weekend what did I eat? Buffalo wings (including blue cheese), beer, french fries, beer, nachos, beer, tuna cesar salad wrap (who knew it existed?), chips, beer, fried dough, cheeseburger, pasta salad, wine, ice cream, bacon, eggs, donut, bagel, etc.

But today I've been good. I'm on my diet. (I do WW in case you were wondering) I've walked four miles, started the day with a sensible breakfast, I'm close to getting in my 8 glasses of water, had a multi-vitamin, etc. Yes, today has been good, but how long will it last?

I have a short term goal. The goal revolves around my trip to Ireland for my cousin's wedding reception. My goal is to not only fit into, but look presentable in the outfit I plan to wear. The reception is slightly less than 3 weeks away and it should take about 5 lbs to accomplish. A bigger challenge is going to stay good on that trip, but I'll worry about that later (a true Irish fry for breakfast is to die for and I can already hear an order of sausage and chips calling my name!).

I'll keep you all (yes, the three of you) posted on my progress. Wish me luck.

Update on the bird....

2007-06-20T11:03:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: The bird was gone when I got home. In my Snow White view of the world I would like to think that the other birds swooped down during the day and flew the little injured bird to safety where they will all tend to his wounds. What is more likely is that a neighborhood cat got him. Either way, the bird is no where to be seen.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised...

2007-06-19T09:53:00.001-04:00

I've always been a dog person. We pretty much always had a dog growing up and I loved all of them. When our last dog died, my parents decided that they weren't around enough to properly take care of a dog and rather than be unfair to one, they decided not to get one. I was in college at this point, so it was hard to argue the point, but I always wanted to get another dog.

Now when I say dog, I mean a real dog. I do not mean to offend anyone that has a lap dog, but in the house where I grew up dogs were not something that fit inside your purse. I'm not talking about a great dane either, but the dog should be of decent size. If the dog had to be in the position to protect the house, it could actually pull it off and not be laughed at by the intruder.

Years go by and I graduate college and go on to live in numerous apartments. I'm also of the opinion that you shouldn't get a dog (again, that would be a dog of decent size) if you don't have a yard for it to run around in, so no dog for Aunt P. Finally Mr Tall Guy and I get a house. The yard isn't huge, but big enough. I'm finally able to get a dog. By now the dog already has a name. I know I want a male dog and I know I want him to be a Brittany. My last dog growing up was a Brittany and I wanted another one. This leads me to the purpose of this post and to the drama I encountered this morning when I went to figure out where Wonder Mutt had gone...

For those of you that aren't very familiar with Brittany's, they are a sporting dog or commonly referred to as a Bird Dog. They not only point, but they also retrieve. Wonder Mutt has been pointing at things, including leaves, since he was just a pup, but this spring he really got interested in the hunt. Squirrels, birds, chipmunks, rabbits.... they all got his attention. He would point, do the slow approach and then occasionally make the pounce only to find that he was a) still attached to the lease and I wasn't going with him, or b) the other animals are just too fast and cagey for him. They can climb up trees, fly away, scamper out of the yard beyond the range of the electric fence or just disappear into a tiny little holes.

So going back to the title of the post, I really shouldn't be surprised. This morning Wonder Mutt got himself a bird. A baby bird, but a bird just the same. I don't know if he got the bird in it's inaugural flight or if the bird fell out of the nest, but he had him (or her as the case may be). It's nature. It's what dogs do. Especially bird dogs, but still. There is my baby. My little puppy staring at this bird on the ground, which is still alive by the way. I tried to go over to them, but I think Wonder Mutt grasped the idea that I was going to take away his new toy so he swatted at it. Luckily he was too fascinated to pay too much attention to me and I was able to grab his collar and take him into the house.

So now what do you do? Try to find the nest to put it back? I don't think you're supposed to touch them. It's injured so do you put it out of its misery? The birds in the trees are all squawking at me. Do I leave it and the other birds will swoop in and tend to it? Do birds do that? By the sounds of them they were definitely pissed off. Do I take it to an animal hospital?

For those of you wondering, no, I didn't kill it. I left it there like the wimpy coward that I am. I went back about 15 minutes later and it had moved 8 or so inches away from where I left it. Not sure if that's a good sign or not. Probably not though.

Like I said, I shouldn't be surprised. Now I just have to hope that this doesn't become a frequent occurrence. Did I mention that my neighbor has a squirrel killing cat?

Happy Birthday 'lil dubya!

2007-06-02T08:58:00.000-04:00

I'll continue with the posts about our trip later, but I first wanted to wish my very favorite nephew a very happy birthday.

Happy 2nd Birthday 'lil dubya!

And congratulations to Mr. Big Dubya and Mrs. Big Dubya for making it through the first two years and good luck with the terrible twos :)

Love,

Aunt P, Mr. Tall Guy & Wonder Mutt

Where'd she'd go? Aunt P? Where arrre yoooouuu?

2007-06-01T12:11:00.000-04:00

Or at least that's what my 'lil dubya would say when I leave for a while. That's right. I left for a while. Did anyone notice? I have had a couple of visitors lately, and then what do I go and do to thank them for their visit? I disappeared. And you really can call it disappearing because I never got around to say anything that I'd be gone for a while, but I have an excuse. (notice I didn't say a good excuse!) I actually thought I would be posting on my travels. The intention was good. I even started a post on day 1, but it never got finished or posted and instead I've been gone close to two weeks. So some of you may be wondering where I went and if not.... well I'm just going to tell you anyways.

About a year ago my sister and I decided to plan a trip to Orlando. I had a timeshare there and I thought it would be great to take 'lil dub there for another visit. (first visit was when he was about 10 weeks -- got to break them in early I say!) Then in October I found out that my company was going to be having their annual customer conference in Orlando as well and they wanted me & Mr. Tall Guy to speak at it. As luck would have it the conference and our scheduled tripped overlapped slightly, so with a shift of our vacation by one day, lucky old Aunt P & Mr. Tall Guy ended up getting free airline tickets since our company had to fly us out there anyways.

Many more months go by and when you agree to present at these conferences it seems like a great idea. A few days in a warm and sunny location, company is picking up the bill, cocktail parties, a concert, etc. But then you get reminded of the hoops they make you jump through. Yeah we know you are presenting at the end of May, but you need to have your presentation done by the end of February and dry run it three times in March so that you'll be prepared. I'm not sure about the rest of you but if I don't know what I had for lunch yesterday so running through a presentation in March won't really help me that much.

So between the conference and the vacation with the Dubya's, Mr. Tall Guy were gone for 10 days. That's a lot to cover in one post, so I'll break it up into sections

1. Joys of traveling with work colleagues
2. Joys of being with work colleagues 24/7 (or at least that is what it seems)
3. Vacation with two under two and a Granny
and of course
4. Adventures of Wonder Mutt!

Stay tuned for part 1 and enjoy your day!

Never a good start to the day....

2007-05-18T09:53:00.001-04:00

Off to the mechanic I go. I was putting off getting an oil change, so at least that is one more thing off my list. Maybe it will be nothing serious. Or maybe it will be the straw that breaks the camels back and I'll go out and buy myself a fancy new car! My car is getting up there in age ('99). Maybe getting a new car is the sensible thing to do. (anyone that knows me now knows that rest of my day will be spent on researching what car I want)

UPDATE: Oxygen sensor of some sort to the tune of $500 and change. Today is shaping up to be just a wonderful day!

Oh no! The pressure's on!

2007-05-16T13:28:00.000-04:00

I was hoping to stay in the bloggers closet a bit longer, but my sister outed me! I had hoped that I could get the hang of this in private, but I guess a publicly accessible blog isn't the best way to do that so I can only blame myself. So now I'm in the dilemma that I need to post something entertaining and not just entertaining to myself (I have an odd sense of humor. It runs in the family. It's why Dub fits in), but something entertaining to the masses (or the 1/2 dozen that may follow my sister's link). So what do I have to share? Hmmm, let me think. Oh yeah, that would be nothing. Zero. Goose-egg.

Well I do have one thing. Others generally find amusement in pain of others. This might work. Although it has potential to be slightly gross. Here's a story about my poorly behaved dog from just this morning.

It's trash day on my street and since I'm going away this weekend for 10 days, I need to get rid of the contents of the refrigerator. Not a big deal -- just toss a bunch of things into the trash bag. I put the trash bag down since I need to find shoes to bring it outside. On my way to find shoes I end up on the couch watching last night's Gilmore Girls. I've already admitted to be addicted to TV. It's my best friend and my downfall. I often get sucked into it in the morning... Time goes by and I notice that it is pretty quiet in the house. Where is Wonder Mutt (my 16 month Brittany)?

I love Wonder Mutt, but if I can't see him, and the house is quiet it's typically bad news. Wonder Mutt? Come here Wonder Mutt! Nothing. Not good at all. Ok. I get off the couch and wander into the kitchen. Yup. He's into the trash bag. He's eating the food I just tossed out of the fridge. He's eaten a big bowl of grilled vegetables brushed with olive oil and garlic. Just to be sure, I smelt his breath. (yes Mrs. Big Dubya, I do things like this) Yeah, that would be green peppers that I smell. Not sure what else he ate, but he sure looked pleased with himself. At some point I'll have to tell the story about how I've spent a small fortune on training this dog. See how well it worked?

Who cares you say? He's a dog. Dog's eat table scraps all the time. Yeah and with my past dogs I would have said the same thing. Wonder Mutt however is a bit delicate. He gets upset stomachs somewhat frequently and now it's time for me to go to work. Into the crate he goes and I just pray that he doesn't get sick.

The bonus is that Mr. Tall Guy will be heading home before me tonight so if Wonder Mutt didn't make it through the day than Mr. Tall Guy will get stuck with the clean-up, but it doesn't make me feel better... poor little guy.

And now for my daily DWTS tidbit. I was wrong. Steve Sanders didn't have enough of a following. Eye-an got booted. And I like Laila less and less every time she speaks. I get your confident, but that doesn't mean you have to be cocky and egotistical. She's in the final 3, and I'm hoping she comes out third. My prediction remains Apolo and then Joey, but Joey may take it. We'll just have to wait and see until next week.

As for Gilmore Girls, due to the interruption from Wonder Mutt I was unable to finish watching it. I'll have to save my teary-eyed recap until tomorrow.

Almost forgot...

2007-05-15T14:16:00.000-04:00

Last night the remaining four stars competed with two dances each. I won't bore you with a recap, but I will say that I think eye-an may have pulled it off and make it into the final 3! I must admit that I'm surprised. The judges haven't been very kind to him. Granted he was still in last place last night, but I think he has a stronger fan base from his Steve Sanders day than any of us expected to make up for it. If I had a choice, I would say that Laila Ali should go home. I'm just not a fan and I don't think her Walk like an Egyptian dance was very good and neither was one of her dances from the week before.

I still say Apolo is going to win, but I'm hoping good 'ole Steve stays along for the ride.

I had no idea they could do this with locks...

2007-05-15T11:39:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned, we're in the process of doing over our house. And when I say "we're" I mean Mr. Tall Guy because I don't really help out all that much and we didn't hire anyone to do the work. Not yet anyways, but that's another story. Continuing...

So with any home improvement project you find yourself visiting the local home improvement chains quite a bit. In fact you may find yourselves there several times over the same weekend or even the same day. Sometimes it's because you were forgetful and forgot to pick up something critical. Other times it may because you uncovered something during the project that you didn't expect. (Have I mentioned that I now refer to my house as Mr. McRot?) Other times is because that chain store that you've grown to depend on seems like it just wants to screw you.

Today was my third trip to try and purchase locks. As part of our home improvement, we're replacing all our exterior doors and as part of this I thought it would be nice to switch to satin nickel hardware. Mr. Tall Guy and I went and had a reasonably successful trip last week to purchase a new front and screen door. This is where I made the satin nickel decision. The first thing Aunt P learned on this shopping trip was that when you get a screen door (it also comes with glass so why is it a screen door? Or is that what a storm door is and that is what we got? So many questions, so little time) it comes with the hardware. Or at least the one we decided on did. Well the only one they had in stock in the model we liked with satin nickel and not brass was an extra $50. Not for the hardware finish, but for insulated glass. Not a bad idea since we live in New England and since Mr. Tall guy wanted to do the door installation over the weekend we needed to get. NOTE: Doors weren't really installed over the weekend, but other work was done leading up to it, so I can't complain.

So with the door and storm (?) door picked out, we make our way over to the knobs and locks section. After some debate, we picked out what we wanted, but they don't have any sets with the same key number in my finish. What is the point of having the "Buying more than one? Match the key number" sticker on it if they aren't going to carry any matching f'ing sets! Nothing to get stressed out about. Don't worry honey, I'll go to the other home improvement chain tomorrow at lunch. (Having all of your doors keyed the same is great. Highly recommend it).

Attempt number two. Well they had two of the sets with matching key, but they didn't have the extra knob with the same key number. So I purchased the two sets and figured I'd just order a knob with the key number online. That's not as easy as it sounds, but in fairness I didn't search around too long. Anyways it turns out that I need a third doorknob/deadlock set (forgot about the 3-season porch door) so I decide to go back to see if they still have a set with my key number.

That brings us to today. My third attempt. I find a set in my finish with the right key number. Yeah! I grab that and the knob I need, albeit with the wrong key number, and go to customer service. I figure screw it. Make them order it for me. And this is where I learn my second big lesson. Turns out that they can rekey it to match my key number right there! Is this common knowledge? Am I a big loser for not knowing this? And why didn't I know this before?

And watching them do it is fascinating. This is where the geek in me comes out. They pull out this box of metal bits of varying lengths. Take the lock apart.shake out the existing bits of metal. Stick in the key of the lock I want it to match and then put in the appropriate length metal bits in about 8 different slots to make it match up with the key. Voila! And all done is less than 5 minutes or so! I love stuff like this!

Granted my newly rekey'd knob didn't come with any keys, but I guess I can live with only 12 matching keys (4 per set) instead of the 14 it would have come with.

This is an example of why it just can't be done in a single trip.

Introducing the new, but probably lame, Aunt P's Blog!

2007-05-14T11:55:00.000-04:00

Well I came up with a title for this post, now what?

Ok, so you can probably guess that I'm new to the blogging arena. I actually setup a blog about two years ago so I could post comments to my sister's and her husband's blog. Two years have past and a number of the comments that I have posted to other blogs started with the phrase "I don't blog, but....". This prompted my brother-in-law to say "why don't you just do one?" So here I am. To anyone that stumbles upon this -- my apologies.

Unlike the dubyas who started their blogs among the sea of mommy and daddy blogs, I have no children. I am however the very proud aunt of 'Lil Dubya and 'Lil Dubyette, hence the title of the blog. I also have a dog. To continue the tradition of code names, we'll refer to him as Wonder Mutt. This is not to imply that he is a mutt, not that there is anything wrong with mutts, but Wonder Mutt is a purebred Brittany (a type of spaniel often referred to as a Brittany Spaniel, but they dropped the spaniel from the Brittany's official breed name a while back). Wonder Mutt is a handful and I'm sure I'll be covering may of his adventures here for all (that would be probably no more than three people) to enjoy.

Along with the adventures of Wonder Mutt, I will be chronicling my life as a newlywed -- at least for the next three months because I think that term expires at your first wedding anniversary, -- my life in a house that is constantly under construction any my life as just being me. This is sometimes very boring, but sometimes very entertaining. Especially when you incorporate pretty much any conversation that takes place between me and my mother, but we'll talk about Granny another day.

To complete the quick bio, since I mentioned that I'm a newlywed, I'll provide a quick mention of my husband who is known in bloggersphere as Mr. Tall Guy. He does not have a blog, but he is tall. Not ridiculously tall or anything, but tall in comparison to me (I'm 5 feet) and the rest of my relatively short Irish family. Mr Tall Guy is 6'3" (6'4" if he is standing up straight).

Mr. Tall Guy and I live in area known as MetroWest which is outside of Boston. We own a modest house (which was lovely when we purchased it) that is currently under construction -- more on that in future posts. We're relatively young and, with the exception of our love for vacations, we're pretty much homebodies. Which leads me to my first confession. I'm addicted to Television. I just love it. I love all types of crappy TV shows. I especially love TiVo because it lets me watch more crappy TV shows more efficiently since I can easily skip commercials. What kind of shows do I watch? Good Question. Well I just dive right in and admit that I watch soap operas. I've been watching General Hospital for over 25 years now and I also watch All My Children. I grew up watching Dallas, Dynasty and Knots Landing. Yes, I know that this all conflicts with the relatively young comment I made earlier, but it's true. I just started this obsession young. Let's just say that I knew it was time to go to the bus stop for kindergarten when the rerun of Love Boat was over.

This has been a hard TV year for me. Tomorrow night is the last episode for Gilmore Girls. The O.C ended earlier this year. This frees me some TV viewing time for me so recommendations are welcome.

And for the record, I am also addicted to Dancing with the Stars. It killed me that Billy Ray stayed on longer than Cliff "our favorite mailman" Claven, but at least he went before Ian, aka Steve Sanders. By the way, anyone know what Broadway show he was supposedly the star of? And your name is Ian, not eye-an. Ian won't make it to the top three, but at least he hung in there long enough for Billy Ray to leave. Predictions you ask? I think I have to go with Apollo with Joey in second. Joey had a bit of an unfair advantage since he had some dancing background. What do you think?

Ok. Enough is enough for the first post. I'm going back to work. Enjoy your day!