Day four

Today is my fourth day of two weeks of vacation. I have learned today that "working from home" just isn't really an option at this point in my life. My 6 year old views it as an option to prey on my weakness of needing time on my laptop by requesting computer game time on NickJr. I have a hard time saying no, because it keeps him well occupied for when I need to be on the phone with a client. But there is no such negotiation with my daughter who simply sees my being on the computer as "not being with her".

And as we all know, 3 year olds are the most self centered human beings ever. It is ALL about them.

It was a rough night since Skadi has decided again that sleeping through the night really isn't a great idea. Leif then got up at 6:06am. Then once in our bed, under the covers, he fell asleep again. But I was awake.

I got up and finished off cutting out Christmas sugar cookies.

Then things started going haywire at work and I just had a horrible time dividing my attention between my one needy daughter, my tuned out son and work.

Then I tore myself away from both and snuck out and had lunch with a coworker.

Then ran home and grabbed the kids to head to Open Gym. On the way home I was impulsive and stopped and grabbed a Starbucks - which I have been avoiding lately both for a calorie and cash perspective. But I decided I deserved it but was disappointed to find out that pumpkin spice is already passe at this Starbucks, but they decided to gift me with whatever option I wanted instead. So it only cost me the calories.

We ran out and picked up our farm share and I am excited by the assortment in our box.

I am four days in and my to do list is nowhere to be found. Things that I have wanted to do? Not done at all. Things I have needed to do at home? Not done. I still have a stack of gifts - mostly for Skadi - to wrap. She loves to help wrap and since I resist in allowing her to wrap her own gifts, I still have a stack of Skadi gifts to wrap.

Today was AB's last day at work and so I am somewhat optimistic that my success in getting our house ready for Christmas at least will start. We need to score a few things for Christmas dinner. I need to get a few stocking stuffers. And I am hoping to send that last deliverable off.

Overall, the kids had a good day - lots of fun at the Open Gym. I got a really nice note from a coworker friend who helped remind me what the really important things are in life - he came by to get our cosleeper last night for their brand new twins who will hopefully be out of the NICU for Christmas and I handed him dinner last night too. It hadn't been much for me to double my batch of soup and pack it up with all the fixings. But it made a big difference to them as they travel back and forth to the hospital every three hours day and night for feedings.

It reminds me that so far this week, I have done the important things. I built a snowman. I made soup for a new family. I kept my mom's tradition of making sugar cookies - I am quite confident she was there rolling out the dough with me. And I did my best to balance life at home with my kids and things that need to be done at work, striving not to let my team down or my family down.

I love my treadmill!

Best big chunk of money I have spent in a LONG time.

AB finished setting it up tonight and then took the kids outside. I hopped on and ran a half mile with the internal fan blowing cool air in my face, in full view of my computer monitor (that has a TV tuner) and with my iPod blasting out tunes.

And seriously one of the best things about it was slipping on my shoes, a pair of shorts, my sports bra and jumping on at a moments notice. I can wear whatever I want to work out.

AB came in to check on me and was impressed with how quiet it was - I am certain I can run after he goes to bed and I will disturb him less than with the TV watching Big Brother.

The downside though is that stupid bite on my leg. I jumped off and immediately AB ordered me onto the couch with my leg up. The red area is about baseball sized now, itchy as hell with spikes of pain to different parts of my leg and toes. It has a few tiny blisters that are starting to crust over.

By my calculation of when I think I was bitten, it has been 48 hours and so I am expecting that the icky internet pictures are not going to be my fate. It will crust over I expect and look like a big rug burn most likely and will probably take a few weeks for the hard golf ball like patch to dissipate. But all in all, I think things will be on an upswing here shortly.

And that I will be able to jump on the treadmill and run to my hearts content!

Bloomsday 2009 here I come!

I no longer have any excuses!

Well I will no longer have any excuses after another day or two... AB has to finish putting my new treadmill together still. But once he is done, no more excuses! I can run whenever!

I know I can do this. I trained for Bay to Breakers on a treadmill my first time around and then ran it. And actually, that was my best ever race. I can get up before the kids get up and run. I can run after AB and the kids go to bed!

So Bloomsday 2009... who's in? (Oh and for the record... I am a slow as molasses runner. Come join me and you could probably walk next to me as I run. Yes, flies collect around me when I run.)

Frustrations

I am starting to think that health clubs are about as honest as used car sales.

For awhile I have been looking forward to joining a nearby (to my work and next door to the kid's school) healthclub so I have a place to go run on a treadmill. A few weeks ago I ran down there with the intent of joining after having received a flyer in the mail for $45 joining fee and $45 a month. They gave me their flyer, but sent me off. Turns out that I have to go to the main club to join.

After having a busy week I finally found time today to run to the main club (my running shoes and clothes packed in my gym bag in the car, ready to start off my running again at the end of the day).

I stood in line at the desk after not finding anyone in the Membership office. They directed me back to the Membership office. I waited.

And I waited.

I was headed back to the desk when a woman finally walked up who works in memberships.

She suggested I go back to the desk to check in and fill out some stupid form.

At this point I was starting to get annoyed.

She finally tells me that their current "deal" since I work at one of the local employers is $100 joining fee, $55 a month and a $50 annual towel fee.

I asked her why the flyer I got 2 weeks ago and the postcard sent to me no longer applies?

She told me they were old and she doesn't know where or when I might have got them.

I showed her the postmark on the postcard from around Memorial Day and noted there was no expiration date listed. Also the flyer? It was picked up two weeks ago from their satellite club.

Sorry she says, $55 a month.

I was ticked. First off, no way in hell was I paying $55 a month when most clubs offering what their offsite "Express" club offers were half that price. Then just the simple fact that the sheets I was given were no longer valid. How convenient! And third - three visits to get signed up for a membership? How bad did they really want my business? Apparently not that bad.

She took my name and phone number that I reluctantly gave after deciding I was leaving and they could keep their club, so she could ask her manager if we could come up with a "deal".

On the drive home I got to thinking, and then I got more ticked off. So when she phoned my cell phone this afternoon, there was no way I was answering. I suppose what I should have done was to take the call and tell them exactly what I thought.

I started running through my options in my head. I have always done well as a morning runner. I need to get up and get to it before I have much time to think about it. I don't need any time to talk myself out of exercising, because I can far too effectively convince myself not to go! My biggest problem is my two sleeping children and a husband who goes to work at 5:30am. I considered other clubs - but I can't spend time driving with my already tight schedule. I am not bad at running outside... but the heat KILLS me. It will be September probably before it cools down enough for me to run outside in the afternoons.

Then as I was walking into my building it dawned on me that maybe simply purchasing a treadmill would solve ALL my problems! I can run in the mornings while the kids sleep without having to worry about my already tight schedule at work. I consulted with my mom, called AB (who is thinking if we did this even he would start running) and I am looking forward to treadmill shopping this weekend!

Bloomsday May 2009 here I come!

Jeans angst

I will start out this post by saying I do realize that I am pretty lucky. I have had two children and with both, never had to work hard to lose the baby weight. Must be the good genes and breastfeeding. With my son the baby weight was gone by 9 months, with Skadi it was closer to a year before the bathroom scale hit that prepregnancy point - which was a few pounds higher than it was with Leif. Still, I am there and wearing my prepreg clothes.

For the most part, AB and I cook and eat relatively healthy and are reasonably active. Since it has been staying lighter in the evenings we are back to our nightly walks. (Winny rejoices.) We hike a local hill almost every weekend. (Winny rejoices.)

My goal is to return to running in June when Skadi moves to Leif's school and I suddenly have only one drop off and pick up. By latching onto the few minutes of spare time the single drop off will afford me and by skipping lunch (eating at my desk while working) I will be able to fit in a good solid 30 minutes at the gym next to the kid's school at the end of my day. After my workout I can walk over (sweaty and all) and retrieve them and we can all go home and proceed with our night without losing too much in my actual face time with the kids.

Working out and staying healthy is important to me on many levels. I feel better when I work out, my clothes fit better, it sets a good example for my kids and I need to keep up with Vargas Girl in all these races she keeps sending me information on! Ok... so I started it by sending her the Bloomsday link, she retaliated with let's do Bay to Breakers again as well as Iron Girl in Seattle. Then I saw one the other day on the Olympic Peninsula near the family cabin... then I realized it was a marathon. Ok, so there was a half marathon... still since I haven't even put my running shoes on I can't start thinking about half marathons in gorgeous locales... yet.

Where am I going with all this rambling? (The whole working out bit wasn't planned...)

Something totally unrelated... kind of.

Jeans.

Denim used to be a staple in my wardrobe. And it is still there, though more in my closet and less on me.

Right now I am having a hate-hate relationship with denim.

I cannot seem to find a pair of acceptable jeans.

I don't want butt crack baring jeans, I am a mom. I bend over and pick kids up a lot, I don't need to show off that part of my anatomy. And not to mention, I wear jeans to work a few times a week, so do NOT need to bend down to work on something and bare nearly all. Can we just all get past the ultra-low thing? Soon, please?

On the flip side I don't need a yard of denim up top either. The top of my jeans do not need to jab my ribcage when I sit down.

I feel like I did when I was in 7th grade and grown out of the girls section at the department store but not really into the juniors stuff.

I am lost in the world of jeans. Help?

I have two pairs of Levis that I still love - though I wonder how dated I am looking since I bought them years ago. My favorite pair of Old Navy jeans ripped something fierce, in the buttt nonetheless, while here at work a couple years ago. I am still mourning them. (Yes, I TRIED repairing them... but it was a BIG rip. And yes, I tried replacing them but the style was gone.)

I keep buying more jeans only to find some flaw. Too funky of leg, too much fabric up top, too low, my grandmother might like these, these ones fall down, make me look like I am trying to be 16... you name it.

I had a glimmer of hope this weekend when I put on a pair of shorts I had just bought at Costco. A pair of Polo by Ralph Lauren shorts that sit "just below the natural waist". I was in heaven.

H-E-A-V-E-N.

I even thought about wearing them on Sunday despite the gook covering them that comes from having two small children. I quickly threw them into the laundry so that thought didn't return.

But what it did do to me was send me on a search for jeans cut the exact same way. I was optimistic! I hit the internet on Monday!

...

Yeah. Nothing.

Can someone just make some trendy, cute jeans that fit for those of us in our mid-30's who don't want to look like our moms (not that there is anything wrong with our moms... just a different generation) or the skanky looking teenagers?

Please?