Together on Tuesday:

Here we are again!!  It's Tuesday!!

This week we will (I think?) have 2 new bloggers.  Charlotte at The Dog Days of Life and Nancy at Purple Peaches will be joining us!  And, of course, Michelle at After 9 and Some Weekends will cover this too!

So...what did y'all have for breakfast?  I had a skinny green monster smoothie (minus the green today because I ran out of spinach).  It was tasty and it is now 11:20 am and I'm not famished. (Thanks, Laura, for forcing me to drink that shot glass of your smoothie!!)

I ask because it pertains to our topic today:  What do you do to be healthy?  Exercise?  Eat right?  What specifically makes your lifestyle healthy and/or unhealthy?  Would you like to change it?  How?

DIETS
Here's a shocker for everyone:  DIETS DON'T WORK.

Until recently, let's say within the past 5 years, I've not ever worried about my weight.  I've never worried about what I ate or how much of it.  I never really sat down and thought about what I put into my body.

And then I became...AN ADULT.  An adult with a child.  And then everything changed.

Of course it did.  Everything changes when you have a child.  If anyone ever tries to tell you any different.  Send them straight to me so I can smack them square upside the head.

But I digress.  Since I've gotten...we'll just say "older"...I DO in fact have to worry about what I put into my body.  And for various reasons.  Reason number one being that what I eat directly affects the size of my backside. 

No, seriously.  Something in my body chemistry changed.  Weight comes on sooner and easier and comes off later and harder.  It's just a fact of life.

Two years ago Chris and I went hardcore on the South Beach Diet.  It was the first diet that I did that actually worked.  And don't you dare say, "That's just like the Atkin's Diet!!!  OMGEEEEE, Danielle, are you trying to kill yourself??!  That diet is suuuper unhealthy!!!"

Because you would be wrong, my friend.

Yes, you cut carbs.  But not all of them.  And yes, you eat protein.  But not just bacon and steak.

The SB Diet taught me what it means to change my lifestyle.  After all, THAT'S what a GOOD diet does.  It teaches you how to turn a set of rules that works for you into a lifestyle that you are able and willing to adhere to for the rest of your...well, LIFE.

At this point in my life, I probably eat about 50% vegetables, 35% protein and 15% carbs.  I only eat good carbs, i.e. whole grains, beans and NO POTATOES.  (Shhh...I still have french fries about once a month.  And they are oh-so-good now that I don't eat them once or twice a week.)  I think that's a pretty good ratio.  Of the 50% vegetables, probably 3 or 4% is fruit.  I love me some vegetables though and I eat more different kinds of vegetables now than I ever have. 

What does all this mean in regards to our question of the week?  I do my best to keep my lifestyle healthy in terms of what I put into my body.

EXERCISE
I don't get nearly the exercise that I want to or should.  I do play with Jayna a LOT outside and I do keep busy.  I don't consider myself a couch potato, but I definitely don't belong in the "athlete" section either.  Truth be told, I'm still COMPLETELY TRAUMATIZED by my Mini experience that I've yet to actually try and run any sort of distance.  I've run a few times since last May, but I'm actually...scared.  Lots of memories come back that I'm not prepared to deal with yet. 

I don't really like to exercise.  I like to do activities that make me exercise without knowing.  I like to have dance parties in the living room.  Play "freezer tag" in the yard.  Help Jayna learn to ride her bike (TRUST ME...that's more exercise than it EVER should be).  Swim.  Do flips.  Do cartwheels (although I did one a few months ago and I think my pancreas is still in the wrong place).  I like to be ACTIVE.  I do not like to EXERCISE.

What does this mean?  I'd like to exercise more, but in FUN ways.  I'd also like to get to the gym about twice a week.  That's all I can commit to at this point in my life.

ALCOHOL
I probably drink too much in most peoples' eyes.  I drink beer probably twice a week, but I limit myself to a maximum of 3.  I drink wine almost everyday.  THERE.  I said it.  I have a glass of wine almost everyday.  I'm okay with that and that is pretty much all that matters.

I bring up the topic of alcohol because one of the main lifestyle changes I made when I started the SB Diet was to stop drinking beer.  For those of you who know me, you know this was a HUGE deal.  But after one month of not drinking beer, I noticed an enormous decrease around my midsection.  I lost my spare tire!!  So now I drink beer, just in greater moderation than before. 

HOBBIES vs. PARENT vs. WIFE
When I think of my health, I don't JUST think about my weight and my nutrition.  I think of my mental stability.  My emotions.  All that stuff that makes me "not crazy."  And all of those things are important to me.

It took me until Jayna was around 2 years old to finally find some sort of balance between being a parent and a spouse and a functioning member of the workforce and a housekeeper and a cook and a maid and a...and a...and a....  I could go on and on just as most of you can.  Balance is important to my health.  If I go for longer than 4 or 5 days without doing SOMETHING besides cooking and cleaning and giving baths and playing Barbies, I get a little irritable.  I need to do things.  I need to refinish furniture.  I need to paint on canvas.  I need to scrapbook.  I need to garden.  I need to be a PERSON.  With my OWN interests and feelings and thoughts.  Hence the blog. :)

I think these days I do a pretty good job of The Great Balancing Act.  I am not afraid to get a babysitter for Jayna.  I am not afraid to tell Chris that he needs to help me more.  I am not afraid to spend a little extra time on doing things for ME on occasion.  I lost the guilt long ago because it was doing me ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD.

And for all you moms out there who don't take time for yourselves?  You're nuts.  DO IT.  It is important for your mental health and the happiness of your children that you be happy. :)

Where does this fit in with the topic?  Well, I view health as a comprehensive effort.  I need to take care of every part of me to be healthy.  And I'm very proud that I do these things to that end.

CHANGE?  HOW?
Well, I do need to get more exercise.  I think that things are good in moderation.  I'm getting better at that.  Instead of a whole chocolate bar to satisfy a craving, I'll eat ONE Hershey kiss.  And it works for the craving.  Instead of a whole entree at a restaurant, Chris and I share.  Those entrees can feed atleast 2 people anyway!  My biggest challenge is beer.  I like good, dark and high-calorie beer.  And I'll continue to drink it...in moderation.

How do I make these things happen?  I just have to do it.  I just have to do it.  Actions speak louder.  So do it to it!!!


What do y'all do to be healthy?  Are there changes that you're trying to make to be healthier?  What are they?

Now pop on over to Michelle, Charlotte and Nancy and see what's up with them!!  If their entries aren't published yet, I'm sure they will be soon.  Check back often!!!

November Six Pix

More catching up. 

Compared to October, November was a boring month.  We did have one fun outing with some friends and a few get togethers with family.  Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned and 90% of the pictures from Thanksgiving Day are...gone.  I have no idea what happened.  I had some good ones of Jayna and her Aunt Aimee and Uncle Steve and some others of Jayna and her Pawpaw and Cousin Anthony.  The pictures are just gone.  Without a trace.  Into thin air.  You get the idea.

So, since some of the most important pictures from the month are, as mentioned above, gone, this is what I've got:

This is Jayna's self-proclaimed "party hat."  She wanted a new hat for winter and when asked what sort of hat she wanted, she said, "A party hat, mommy."  How was I supposed to NOT make her one??  Look how happy she is. :)

And there's the ketchup!!  This was taken at Kilroy's.  That's Jake and Michelle, Chris and me.  I think I have a picture of every single one of my friends wearing those ridiculous glasses.  Note the Crystal Blue down at the bottom.

While the rest of us decorated for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving, Chris caught a nap with Deuce.  Looks pretty relaxing.  Nothing like helping a 2-year-old hang ornaments on a tree.

**Heavy sigh.**  I will miss 2-year-old Jayna. My heart aches when I see this picture.

On Thanksgiving, it is customary to read "The Night Before Christmas" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" at my parent's house.  Pawpaw loves to read those stories to the kiddos. (This is the one picture I have of Thanksgiving.  I also remember it being the last picture I took that day.  Weird.)

Girls.  At Kilroy's.  Drinking Crystal Blues.  KT, MZQ, me, Laura.  Love these girls. :)

What did YOU do in November?

Five for Friday: Hopefully

I'm not sure this list will make it to five.  It's been a rough day...

1. I spanked my kid today.  Not with a belt.  Not by yanking her up by her arm and slamming her.  I simply scooped her up and smacked her daipered behind 2 times.  She threw a flashlight at Moe today and then proceeded to beat Ollie repeatedly in his head with her shoe 8 or 9 times.  She got upset with me after I spanked and then threw her shoe at my temple.  THE SAME TEMPLE SHE HEAD BUTTED ME IN ON MONDAY.  I'm at my wits end and have NO IDEA how to control the tantrums at this point.
2. I think I just told all of my Facebook friends that there is a party at my house next Saturday night.  Uhoh.  What was I thinking?  Hopefully they think I was kidding.
3. On a related note, I've been having a case of the "don't think before you act"s.  I've been upsetting people left and right over silly things that could have been cleared up with  me just thinking about what I was doing before I did it.  Oy.  I haven't overanalyzed anything in like 2 weeks...except this.  I think I feel like a normal person...and I don't know how you all live like this!
4. I get tailgated by the SAME WOMAN 2 or 3 days of EVERY week.  I mean severely tailgated.  It happens after I drop off Jayna and when I'm on my way to work.  I can see what color this woman's eye shadow is!!  I hope she finds a new way to work or leaves a little earlier from now on.
5. I want ice cream.  No, I want beer.  Okay, both.

Happy Holidays...in mid-January.

Jayna is 17 months old today.  But I can't blog about it.  I just can't.  Because I haven't blogged about the holidays.  And I'm certifiably nuts.  And I just can't have things be THAT OUT OF ORDER.  It's truly impossible for me to let that happen.  So, here goes...about the holidays, I mean. 

On the 23rd of December (or Christmas Eve Eve, as we call it at my house), Chris' parents had a get-together for Christmas.  Just a few friends and family.  Lots of drinking and eating and oohing and aahing over the child.  She was the hit of the party up to and including the very end where we all busted into song and dance to Jingle Bells and she danced her little pants off right along with us.  You see, Jingle Bells is her favorite Christmas song because she has an Elmo stocking that sings Jingle Bells.  Yay for Elmo (and I suppose you can't *hear* the sarcasm in that statement since you're *reading* this).  Here is the singing and dancing fun...Jayna tucked safely away in Nana M's arms at this point in time.

(Please excuse the quality of these photos...they are very minimally edited.)

On Christmas Eve, we had family over to our house.  We drank and ate some more and then made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers.  I know...then they aren't really gingerbread.  But who cares!!  We had a blast!  And Jayna highly enjoys having people over to our house because she can have all of her stuff and people all in the same place!  Here are a few pics from that evening...

Some card playing.

All that Jayna would eat that night was bean dip.  Yes.  Bean dip.  And she LOVED it.  Just look at that face!!

Deep into the gingerbread house making.

Four VERY big dorks with their respective houses.  Tony (far left and my brother) won for most creative...his gingerbread house was a trailer.  It had wheels, a trailer hitch and brake lights on the back.

Jayna playing (showing off) before bed.

Our Christmas tree with the gifts that Santa delivered after Jayna went to bed.

And this is the moment when tragedy strikes.  We get up on Christmas morning and go into the living room to open presents.  I get my camera and...the battery is pretty much kaput.  I...I forgot to charge my camera battery.  Oh dear.  I do have pics of her unwrapping gifts, but they were taken with my old crappy camera and I haven't uploaded them yet.  Here is what I DO have...

Here we are first thing in the morning.  Jayna was afraid of the presents.  We had to ease her into it.

But then she got going and began to understand that they were for her to look in.

And it was ALL OVER from there.  The ripping and tearing and craziness began.

And it was the best day of my entire year.  She loved it!!

But why wouldn't she love it??  She got all these cool new toys!!

So, all was good.  And tomorrow I'll write about Christmas at both Nanas' houses and then the day after Christmas with my dad's side of the family.  I'm only one person, folks.  I can only blog so much in one day.  Maybe by next week I'll have a 17 month post about Jayna for you!!

The Rear View and the Long Term: 2010 Edition

Here we go again.  I went back and read my post from this day last year about what I was looking back on and what I wanted out of the new year.  It's a bittersweet post...mostly because I feel like I'm moving in the right direction, but I'm just not there yet.  Wherever "there" may be is beyond me.

I wrote the following about Jayna in last year's post:

"I marvel in her innocence, her sense of discovery, her beauty and her physical, mental and emotional growth on a daily basis. I am simply amazed by her."

That hasn't change one bit.  I am still amazed at her ability to learn so quickly and to actually retain what she learns.  She is simply amazing.  I love her more than words could EVER say.

Sum it up.  Sum up an entire year in one word.  Last year's word was tumultuous.  And that was so incredibly fitting.  This year's word is "human."  I'm sure you're all so confused by that.  Even you, husband.  Bear with me.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word "human?"  Think of it not as in, "I am a human."  Think of it as in, "I am human."  Leave out that article "a" and the entire meaning changes, does it not? 

At the beginning of 2009, I was Superwoman...or so I thought.  I couldn't afford to make mistakes.  I had to do everything myself and make sure it was done correctly and I had to be Mom Of The Freakin' Year or I wasn't happy.  What did I learn?  Even when I *thought* I was doing all those things I still wasn't happy.  And over time...little by VERY little...I learned what it REALLY means to be human.  Not a human.  Just human.

I made mistakes.  Boy, did I ever.  I did do everything myself, but nothing was done correctly or with any sort of care because I was stretched way too thin.  Nothing received the attention that it needed.  Not my kid.  Not my marriage.  Not my job.  Nothing.  Jack of all trades...master of none.  No focus.  Yikes.

Merriam Webster defines human as "susceptible to or representative of the sympathies and frailties of human nature."  Human nature...well, that can be defined in several ways.  You handle that on your own.  Some people factor in religion.  Some are more philosophical about it.  I am a firm believer in the human condition.  I do have a degree in philosophy, after all.  I won't break out the full-on philisophical mumbo jumbo.  I'll spare you.  But being human means we make mistakes and we have feelings and we are always searching for something.  Those things we could probably all agree on.

I learned what it means to be human.  To make mistakes and not reach goals and cry and get angry and sulk.  I learned what it means to have an imbalance in my life that is so substantial that I can't handle it alone.  I learned that I can't fix everything and that some things don't necessarily need fixing and will work out anyway.  I learned lots of lessons the hard way.  But when you learn them the hard way, they stick. 

I've learned that relabeling things can be helpful.  I don't call this denial.  I call it dealing.  I don't make mistakes anymore.  I have learning experiences.  I find a lesson (or try to) in everything I screw up.  What can I do differently?  Where did I go wrong?  If I can't answer those two questions then that experience is labeled a non-fixer. 

I learned that emotions, no matter how significant or trivial are okay.  I still find the humor in everyday life.  I really do love life and think it is hilarious.  As a parent you MUST laugh.  If you don't, you're not paying attention.

I have almost the same general goals as I did last year.  So, lets recap and edit:

I have high hopes of getting our finances in strict order so as to save money for a down payment on a new house.  I still have hopes of this.  Unfortunately, paying off doctor bills and paying down the home equity line of credit that paid for the trailblazer needed to be done before saving for a down payment.  And now we're paying a whole new set of doctor bills since Jayna got the tubes.

I seriously want to move. Seriously. I want to find a place that is in fixer-upper condition, but liveable, and move and work to make things the way we want them...and I want to STAY there.  We are working on this.  Our house will be listed by mid-January.  Hopefully the homebuyer's tax credit will help us.  We WILL make this work.

I look forward to all that the world has in store for Jayna.  She does all the things that I mentioned in last year's post, but there are more things that I look forward to now.  She is such as sweet, smart little girl.  And I just can't get over how awesome she is.

I asked myself last year if I was being naive.  I ask myself again.  And the answer is the same:  probably.  Who knows where we will be next year at this time. 

Having an idea of my future helps me sleep at night.  Setting concrete goals makes me NOT sleep at night.  I need to have a plan even if I change it or don't even follow it at all.  More living.  Less thinking.  I will not make resolutions (see this post).  I will only have hope and look forward to things.  I'll leave you with my words of wisdom from last year that I have been using as a general rule for living life:

I look forward to the continual growth of my family (mentally, emotionally, spiritually...NOT PHYSICALLY...), the continual growth of myself as I find myself again, better planning, more spontaneity, more forgiveness, less grudges, more quality time instead of quantity time, less hurry-hurry-hurry, less anger, more delight, more patience, less frustration, more smiling, less scowling, more sweet and less sour...and LOTS and LOTS of picture-taking!!


I love you all.  You're all wonderfully great in your own little ways.  I wish totally awesome things for all of you in 2010.  Now drink up!!

A Week's Worth of Blogging

Didja miss me?? I thought so. Seems like I haven't blogged for, well, a week or something. So much for keeping up with the blog. Life continues to interfere with my blogging time.

Our Independence Day weekend was crazy. We had Friday off of work and we spent some of it doing household junk like cleaning and mowing the lawn and then we spent the late afternoon/evening with my mom celebrating her 50th birthday. Fun times. We had some drinks, some pizza and the most awesomest cake ever...the Reese's Cake from Ritter's. YUMMY! I also had a Grasshopper Greeting put up in her yard. It said "50 Bloomin' Years" and had lots of flowers all around it. Now EVERYONE knows she's 50. We made up for it by putting a 3 and a 9 on her cake. :)

On the 4th, we went back to my mom's for grilling and drinking. There was a bounce house, but the rain ruined that. We spent the majority of the day in the garage playing makeshift games to keep the kids busy. We had a good time, but it would've been much better had the weather cooperated. My friend Michelle and her husband Jake and kid Sam joined us...and then Sam couldn't even bounce!! I think they still had an okay time despite the crappy weather. We enjoyed seeing them!! By the end of the day, Jayna was pooped even though she took a nap. She slept through all of the fireworks that night and even slept in a little Sunday morning.

Sunday we hung out at the homestead and then went to a birthday party in the afternoon. Colton turned 2 and we went to help him celebrate. Ben and Elise did a fine job with the party even though they kept saying it was their first time having a kid party. We had a good time watching the other kids play in the water and we also enjoyed talking to grown-ups that we don't see very often. It makes us realize that we need to see our friends more.

And now it's Wednesday and we've been back to the daily grind for 3 days now. Yuck. It seriously will never end. I'm tired and cranky and the rednecks in my neighborhood seem to have lost track of the days and seem to still think that it's the 4th of July. Fireworks are the devil's work, I tell ya.

Jayna has been Ms. Crankypants for the past couple of days. She's also been EXTRA hungry and is just crazy. She cries when you set her down on the floor but then pushes and kicks you when you hold her. She seriously has NO IDEA what she wants right now. I think she's still getting some molars in and that's bothering her. She's been snotty and drooly like no other this week. It's sooo fun. I know you wish you were me. :)

I'm excited to watch the new episode of The Cleaner tonight. It was actually on last night, but my lazy ass was already asleep by that time! DVR is wonderful.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

Take me out to the ballgame...

Today is MLB Opening Day. Now, how many of you actually care? (insert cricket noise here...) Yeah, that's what I thought.

Well, dammit, I care!! The BoSox play the Rays at 2pm today...that is if it doesn't rain cats and dogs in Boston. Chris and I are leaving work early to go watch baseball. We never do things like this, so I'm sure it'll be fun even if the game does get rained out. And we get to go have a few beers. Soooo much better than working.

I could go on and on about the Red Sox and baseball in general, but I'll spare you all. I am smart enough to know that the bulk of my readers are not baseball fans. And the ones of you that I do know who watch baseball are effin' Cubs fans. That's worse than not being a fan at all. :)

Happy Opening Day, all!!