No More Sitting On My Ass

It seems like everyone has physical fitness on the brain these days.

The FLYLady (aka Marla Cilley) is right in the middle of a Body Clutter challenge on Facebook. Kristen from Motherhood Uncensored is hosting the Shredheads for the month of March. Christina of A Mommy Story is once again hosting Hot by Blogher this year -- even her husband Aaron is aiming for a goal of his own.

Independently of all this --I swear, I've been thinking about this for like a month! -- I've also been thinking more about my own health and fitness. I'm coming to the realization that although I may not need to lose weight (come on, I want some boobs to speak of), I'm waaaay out of shape. I have no muscle, no tone, and no endurance whatsoever.

My husband and I are also starting to think about planning for baby -- and pregnancy -- number two (nothing solid yet, just starting the conversation). I am not at a place where I am happy with my body -- not that I've tried very hard to fix that. And before I get pregnant again, I'd at least like to be mostly satisfied with the shape I'm in. That way it will be easier to get back to a place I like after the fact (or at least not harder).

Plus, you know, I should probably start thinking about setting a good example for my kid(s) in the matter of eating habits and staying active. So they may be motivated to do the same.

So, here goes: my two, very general goals are: A) to eat better, and B) to be more active.

As far as my eating habits go, I want to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; and fewer simple carbohydrates. I'd like to eat when I'm hungry -- no more, no less; and eat appropriate portions for my caloric needs.

As for increased activity, I'd like to have a basic level of fitness, and then add endurance, a bit of tone, and possibly a little more strength and flexibility. Oh, and it has to be fun. I know myself by now, and I won't stick to it if it's not fun or if I can't find a way to make it fun.

So maybe I'll try some walking or jogging, swimming in a few months, maybe even basketball or something. I have three great places to work out: the Jewish Community Center, my apartment complex facility, and the Power Shack gym -- all of which are free! But they're not doing me any good if I don't go.

So tell me: are you in good shape? Do you have room for improvement? Do you have any plans for improvement, and if so, what are they?


*Remember: healthy weight loss is defined as only about 1 to 2 pounds per week. If you're fairly inactive like me, start slow and build up. Don't work the same muscle groups every day -- every other day is plenty. Most importantly, get a buddy! If you have someone going for a goal right along with you -- even if it's a different goal -- it's sooo much easier! Plus, if you have to be accountable to someone other than yourself, it's more likely you'll actually follow through.

And don't forget to stay hydrated!




Hmmm... also I can't seem to find my camera-uploader-plugger-inner-thingy. So, I will post the "before" pictures at a later point in time. After all, what's the point of planning to post "after" pictures if there's nothing to compare it to?

Haiku Friday #16: Babies!

Lately I have had
A lot of weird dreams in which
I'm pregnant again

Ev'ry time I see
A newborn baby, I get
All warm and fuzzy.

Sure, I remember
The nausea, the contractions,
The emergency

C-section... But I
Also got a beautiful
Baby boy to hold.

Yes, there were
Sleepless nights and zombie days,
Spit-up and sore boobs.

But now look what I
Have to show for it all: my
Son, my very own.

I've had some serious baby fever lately. Every time I look at a baby, all I want to do is hold it. We absolutely do not need another baby right now -- we're doing all we can to support our family of three as it is. And while some families manage really well with two children under the age of two, I'm not sure my husband and I are cut out for it.

Still, I can't help but want a new baby again. I'm not ready for two kids yet -- I still haven't accepted the changes my body has gone through seen my first pregnancy (not to mention the surgery, breastfeeding, and weaning). But I miss that feeling of waiting expectantly for something small and wonderful to make its entrance, the bonding between mommy and belly.


For more haiku, or to play along, visit Christina at A Mommy Story.

Haiku Friday #13: Lucky Number 13

This is my thirteenth
Haiku Friday; I think it's
Been so far so good.

Also, my son turned
Thirteen months old on Monday
He's getting so big!

Not superstitious,
I think the number thirteen
Is lucky instead

Actually, I've always thought of thirteen as my lucky number. Life just seems to work out in weird, unusual ways for me. Often it seems things turn out the exact opposite of how I expect. So thirteen being my lucky number just works.

Haiku Fridays are a bright spot in my week. I'd like to make a point of doing them every week, just so I can have something to look forward to at the end of my work week. And I'd like to think that my readers enjoy something fun too. Might as well make it more often.

My gift for the thirteen-month anniversary of being a mom? Another step towards turning into mine -- last night while feeding my son dinner I bestowed upon him The Mothers' Curse: "Someday you're going to have a messy eater child just like you!"

To read more haiku and/or participate yourself, visit Christina at A Mommy Story.

Happy Friday, everybody!

My Very Own Con

My husband and most of his friends, and many of my friends, by proxy, are really into comic books. I'm a bit of a fangirl myself, although I haven't read much. What I have read (a bit each of Justice League, Ultimate Spiderman, and the latest incarnation of Green Arrow) has only been recent. I've also enjoyed the fairly recent explosion of movies based on comic books (I'll be truthful, they're more succinct -- although that's not always good, as in the case of X-Men: The Last Stand).

Ever since we moved to Columbus, we've been hanging out with Aaron and Christina more often. Mostly it's for playdate reasons, but it's also nice to have adult friends that a) understand kid-related conversations, and b) don't always want to talk about their/your kids. Aaron writes for Superhero Flix and often goes to comic conventions as a member of the press. He's interviewed some seriously cool people, like Seth McFarlane and Jewel Staite most recently at the San Diego Comic Con.

So you can imagine that I might be a little jealous. Even as an ordinary citizen, attending the San Diego Comic Con would be too cool. But I might have a chance to go to a convention of a different kind instead.

Christina has a blog of her own -- you probably read it if you're a mom too -- and she attends blogging conventions. The biggest one I've heard mention of is the annual BlogHer Convention, a blogging con for women bloggers (in fact, the whole BlogHer site is for women bloggers -- it's pretty cool, so I'd check it out if I were you!).

This year the convention is in Chicago, the closest to Columbus, Ohio that it's likely to ever get. I really really really want to go, meet famous and little-known bloggers like myself (well, at least the little-known ones would be), hear all sorts of great speakers, and, of course, party. I'll admit that part doesn't sound half bad.

But it's gonna be pretty tough. I'm still the only family member working, while my husband is going to school to try and get a job that pays more than minimum wage. I make just over minimum wage myself (I mean, I work in a daycare, and it might be the most expensive daycare in the area, and the best place to send your kids, but it still pays crap). We're on food stamps and Medicaid, and that helps a bit, but it's not enough. We try to pay our rent, car insurance, and my student loan on time every month, but sometimes it's late, and other than those three imperative payments, we have to choose which other bills to pay. This month we're paying the gas bill so it doesn't get shut off. And you all know about the higher cost of living now (especially diapers and cat food -- at least gas isn't as expensive now).

Sometimes it's hard. We haven't gone on a date since my birthday, before I started writing this blog. We basically have to avoid fast food of all kinds, limit our road trips to Cincinnati to see the in-laws, decide what we really need and what we can wait on -- sometimes I ask my mom for diapers and wipes, and she buys all my son's clothes. He wouldn't have anything to wear otherwise. And we still don't have a pack 'n' play, second carseat, or even a baby gate. He's thirteen months old, and we don't have a gate for our stairs (we live on the second floor and the stairs are on the inside).

But we know this is temporary. As soon as my husband finishes his certificate, he's qualified to teach high school English. We hope and pray every day that he will get a job offer upon his receipt of the certificate. Or at least by August. As soon as he gets a job, things will get much, much easier. We'll move into a bigger place, buy those things we need that we just can't afford right now, even think about the possibility of a second child.

Unfortunately, we just don't know. So, as much as I want to go to the BlogHer Conference this summer, we may not be able to. We're trying to save any way we can: carpooling with Christina, splitting a hotel room, trying to finagle a way to get that student discount on admission. Since our daycare/preschool is NAEYC accredited, I have to do training each year. I'm hoping to find out that the training sessions I have to attend count as classes so that I can get in as a student -- a steep discount.

My best chance at going? Would be to win the Queen of Spain's giveaway. We'd still have to figure out our half of lodging and gas, but I have a feeling it would all be downhill once the registration is paid for. She's giving away one full registration on her blog.

There's still time! If you have been wishing you could go to the BlogHer Conference '09 if only you could afford the registration fee, this is your best chance too. All you have to do is write a blog post, link the post to her giveaway post, and leave her a comment. Click that link for full details.

What a beautiful, generous person. May we all be so generous (or as much as our personal situations allow) in 2009. And to those of you who are entering at the last minute like me, good luck!

Busy Weekend

...but still good.

Thursday night (yeah, I know; not exactly the weekend, but I promise it's related): After work I went straight to my (mostly) weekly therapy session. I think the therapy is helping, but I really need to get in with a family doctor to get back on antidepressants. I say "a" doctor because I still technically don't have one, exactly. Since we moved back to Ohio, we've searched for a doctor closer than 30 minutes away that takes our insurance. Until a few weeks ago, we had been unable to find one -- in 7 months, people! Now I'm just waiting for the insurance company to send me a new card: the doctor we found won't schedule an appointment with anyone until her name is on the insurance card, which of course takes 7 to 10 business days to get changed... blah blah blah. Crossing my fingers that the card comes soon.

After therapy I picked up my son and we went to JoAnn Fabrics. Brandon and I had been talking about what he would be for Halloween since last Halloween: Superman. We considered all the superheroes (we're geeks, remember?), and we settled on Superman (or -baby, as the case may be) because he doesn't wear any kind of mask or hat-type thing. Babies hate things on their head, so it's perfect, right? I wasn't sure whether to sew or buy, since I found a really cheap one online, but he was kinda in between the infant and toddler sizes. So I will sew. And I have since decided that I must be a crazy person little ambitious -- Halloween seems a lot closer from this side of the weekend. It's happened before. It'll probably happen again.

Friday afternoon Brandon got a call from Aaron and Christina, who wanted to know if we would like to go see Celtic Thunder Sunday night. An hour later, my sister-in-law Abby called about possibly visiting this weekend and offering to babysit so we could have a date. Amazing how things come together like that.

Saturday Brandon went to pick up Abby from OU (she's in her first freshman quarter there) while Adam and I picked up the house. Or rather, I tried to clean and simultaneously tried to keep Adam out of the cat food. Since he's discovered his mobility, he likes to dump their food bowl onto the floor. Sigh. At least he doesn't eat it.

We went to my mom's house for the OSU game as usual. Abby, Adam, and I fell asleep. After the game we went to Target so Abby could get some new clothes for school. It was really nice to get out of the house and not go to the grocery store, work, or a movie. Plus, Brandon and I got to play "personal stylist," which we love. We love to watch Project Runway, I like What Not to Wear on occasion, and we enjoyed both Queer Eye for a Straight Guy and How to Look Good Naked while they were on. But we don't have much money, so we like to shop for other people, like our sisters.

I worked on Adam's costume a little over both Saturday and Sunday. So far, I've cut out the pieces for the "S," the onesie, the cape, and half the pants. Still have the other leg of the pants, the red underwear thing, and the belt to cut out. Then sew it all. I may or may not do the additional yellow "S" on the cape. We'll see how much time I have. I'm definitely not sewing boots -- Abby bought him a pair of red socks.

Sunday we watched the Bengals game, I did a ton of laundry, and Abby looked for some poster- board and her own Halloween costume. Then Brandon and I went to Aaron and Christina's house before the show.

We took one car to save on gas and parking, had a nice, brief dinner, and went to the Schottenstein Center for the show. Parking turned out to be free (the tickets were, too, but we knew about that -- Christina knows someone who got us the tickets), but the seats were kinda tiny and the auditorium was really warm and stuffy. Other than that, it was fantastic!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Celtic Thunder, they are an all-male, 5-piece Irish band with a wide range of ages (16 to 41), tones of voice, and singing styles. They are accompanied by a slew of very talented instrumentalists, as well. You may have seen their show on PBS. They are all excellent performers -- they sing with choreography, although the singing is much better by far. My husband's only complaint about the show is that most of the music isn't Irish. I didn't mind so much -- men that sing well are HOT. (My husband knows I think this, and he knows I like his singing. So why doesn't he sing very much?)

Today it was back to work for me, and as well as I've handled being away from the baby so far, the first thing I thought this morning when I got there was how much I missed him.

Haiku Friday #2: Crappy week

Husband is busy
Baby refuses to sleep
These make me grouchy

Bureaucrat bullshit
Three days ago, then next day
A speeding ticket

How can my sister
Cry her way out of one?
It's happened twice now.

Yet another job
That might as well be performed
By ruthless robots

For all the pity
And compassion I receive
From each cop I've met.

Today was better
Until my husband came home
(Just kidding, sweetheart).

Oh, well, at least I got a break while my mom watched the baby today. He took three naps today! But they each lasted 25, 35, then 15 minutes. Look at the time of this post. He literally went down 10 minutes ago. And that after staying up late last night. Grrrr. Argh. (Points if you know what that's from.)

But blogging always makes me feel better after he's gone to sleep (actually, they both are -- Brandon has another sub job in the morning), especially because the kitties take advantage of my empty lap.

Haiku Friday is fun, people! Look how much I saved on therapy this week. :) But really, come and play. Check out more haiku at Christina's blog, leave comments, click around archives, spread the bloggy love!



Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, I am looking for a new blog design (not that I don't like this one, but it's a little dull for me). I may be experimenting with these in the next week or so. Be sure to stop by early and often and let me know what you think!

Why Kroger rocks

On Tuesday, the day of no nap, Christina and I went to the Kroger out by her to pick up some dinner on the way back from the pool. They were giving away free pinwheels. I picked one up, figuring that if Adam wasn't entertained, I would be.

Adam was thrilled. I didn't take it out for him to play with until Wednesday, since he was having sleep issues, but as soon as I did, he was riveted. I blew on it to make it spin, and his eyes lit up. When I held it out to him, he batted at it to make it spin some more. It's just so cool how something that simple can elicit such a profound reaction.

At my mom's house, having a blast with that pinwheel!

Now I'm off to do something productive!

Haiku Friday

Time for something new:
A fresh, fun game on my blog
Called Haiku Friday

From Christina's blog,
An alternative to posts
Long and hard to write.

Some weeks have a theme
Others are purely random
This week is "School Time."

My husband teaches,
Substituting for many
Local school districts.

He also went back
To get his certificate
For high school English

This week was the start
Of both learning and teaching
I think I'll miss him.

Christina over at A Mommy Story started doing Haiku Friday with Jennifer over a year ago as an alternative to spending the first part of the weekend writing a long, detailed blog post. Still going strong, this week's batch had over 40 participants! Although I'm late as usual, I'm participating this week. Of course, I'm sending my husband off to school this week, not my son -- that day will come (not soon enough).

Anyone else who feels so inclined should join in as well. If you have never written haiku before, it's not hard. The only requirements: three lines long, first line is five syllables long, second is seven, third is five. It just takes a few extra minutes (or a good thesaurus -- I recommend Thesaurus.com). Christina explains how you can participate and put one of those cute little buttons on the post or on your sidebar, and you can get added to the list. Come on, it'll be fun, and you might even find some new cool blogs to frequent or get some new traffic to your own (woot!).

Peace out!