100 Books in 2010 Challenge

I've signed up for this challenge, and you should too!

I'll keep my list on the lower, right-hand side of this blog.

A New Year, A New Start

I lost 34lbs last year. I worked hard for the first 6 months or so, then sort of gave up. I kept losing and gaining the same 4lbs over and over and over, and got tired of dealing with it. It frustrates me now, because I'd be so much closer to my goal if I'd just kept counting points and faithfully working out. Luckily, I didn't really do any damage to myself-I maintained the same weight, more or less, but it's so much harder to get back on that weightloss wagon than it is to just stay on it to begin with. I ended the year being horribly sick for several weeks, enough so that I couldn't run without breaking into fits of coughing. I'm pretty sure I hurked up a few pieces of my lungs. I ate just a little too much, I drank just a little too much, and sat around. I tried to keep doing yoga, since it didn't make me hack and hack, but it's not such a great calorie burner.

I'm getting back to good health, and we've bought some exercise equipment...a pull-up and dip station, an urban rebounder. If I ever get a treadmill for home, I can quit the stupid gym completely (I'm not really a social exerciser).

I think that waiting for New Year's to decide to change our lives is ridiculous, but I'm thinking of this as a new start. Here are the things I'm resolving to do in 2010:

1. Get back to tracking points and logging my food.

2. Following this workout schedule: M-run and upper body strength; Tu-yoga; W-run and lower body strength; Th-yoga; F-run and abs. Sat/Sun will be rebounding (either one day or both), since it's a short and intense workout.

3. Spend more time intereacting with the kids and less time pretending to listen to them while hanging out on the computer.

4. Lean a new hobby..something, anything. Knitting perhaps?

5. Find a volunteer position.

6. Remember to take my vitamins!

I'm off to a decent start so far, I've gotten a workout in every day since the 1st. I've taken a multi and my calcium. I've sent some inquiries out about volunteer jobs. However, I'm sitting here typing while the kids watch a DVD, so there's one I need to focus on. Hard.

The playgroup's off to an awesome start already, with January and February calendars nearly full already. I've missed hanging out with those ladies, and while I love the holidays, I'm glad to have our schedule back to normal.

Blah Blah Blah

I want to blog. It's fun, interesting, and good for my brain to just let all the crap that piles up in there get out on paper. Well, not paper exactly...

Then life intereferes, and months go by where I think about how I need to go write but never actually DO go write. I never, ever miss one of my kids' well child exams, yet I can't remember to come take care of myself through writing. It's a stupid thing we women do (especially moms), making outselves into martyrs.

I've been back on-track with my weight loss program. After a LOOOOOOONG plateau, I'm back on a downward trend. My playgroup started a 12 week competition through Thintopia, and it's reignited my desire to lose more weight. In the process, I've taken up RUNNING. This is shocking, because I don't run. Not even after an ice cream truck. A friend clued me into a program that e-mails me what to run on any given day, and by the end I'll be going for 30 minutes. I'm actually doing it! I like running! It's even inspired me to try a spinning class, which is an awesome workout even with the raging sore ass the next day.

I'm also getting the chance to learn how to knit. The knitting, running and spinning are all courtesy of the above-mentioned playgroup. We'll also be taking on some philanthropic adventures for the holidays, including working a local food bank. I've been thinking about how great my new friends are. They challenge me to be better, to take care of myself, to learn new things. It's important for me to do, as a human being, and to be a better mom.

The Penis Mightier

Boys start early with their genitalia obsession. My 3 year old son is now fully in love with himself, and it's a battle to get him to wear pants. As we work on potty training, he often runs around naked from the waist down, and we're having to talk to him about the appropriate time and place for touching yourself. I'm a liberal, open-minded parent, but this discussion still makes me feel a little embarassed.

A few days ago, he'd been "handling" himself, and got an erection. "My penis is getting BIGGER!" he exclaimed, both shocked and impressed with himself. He's like a miniature frat boy already.

RIP Patrick Swayze

Why is it we feel so hearbroken when beloved celebrities die? I remember John Ritter's surprise death left me reeling for weeks. I felt like a close family member was gone. Michael Jackson was sad, too, and my husband and I played our Jackson CD's and talked about his career and life. Now Patrick Swayze. The man had pancreatic cancer, so it's not like I expected him to make some kind of miraculous recovery, yet...what is it? It's like they're larger than life, like celebrities can't possibly die. Like most girls, I grew up adoring "Dirty Dancing," arguably the best cheesy movie ever made. The music, the dancing, the lines: "Nobody puts baby in the corner!" My god, it's brilliant!

I'm sad about Patrick Swayze, it gives me this dull ache in my heart. I think that famous people feel like a part of us, since fans own just a tiny little bit of the person through their movies/music/art/books.

Children and Race

Newsweek recently ran an article about babies, children and racism. Here's the link, http://www.newsweek.com/id/214989/page/1

There are two pieces to this article, but in the end I don't really understand the shock. My family is biracial. My husband is of Indian descent, and I'm a mix, mostly German and Irish with some other white mixed in. Race is an important part of our lives, and we're very open and honest about it. We talk/joke about it between us, with our extended families, with our friends and with our kids. I will never understand people (and, yes, it's mostly white people) who think the best way to "address" the issue of people being different colors is by completely ignoring it. This is what they found in the article, that parents stick to an "everyone is the same inside" argument, and proceed to ignore race completely.

Meanwhile, they found that babies spend more time staring at photos of faces that are a different race than their parents are. This didn't indicate a preference, per se, just that even babies as young as 6 months notice that it's "out of the ordinary" from what they normally encounter. Well, pardon my language here, but no shit, sherlock.

Anyone who has children knows that even the tiniest babies notice when something is new to them. That's kind of the point of their little developing brains. Ultimately the issue here isn't that babies notice different skin colors (which I should point out, is NOT a bad thing. Noticing and talking to your kids about race and skin color is okay. In fact, it's mandatory, in my opinion), it's that they aren't getting the chance to be around people of all races.

With kids who are mixed race, I think about bigotry, faux liberalism and hidden racists all the time. I live, geographically, in an area that is pretty liberal and we rarely have any issues with other people not approving of our family. Still, my husband and brown kids are probably the only encounters most of our friends and their children have with non-white people. My guess is that this is pretty standard for most white people.

If Only I Was Famous...

I could check myself into a posh rehab facility for "exhaustion" right about now. It's been a long and painful couple of weeks, and I apologize for not writing for awhile. Our only car broke down, and we decided to get something new. I love the new, crazily overpriced hunk of gas-guzzling beauty. We could buy one of our kids four years at a state university for what we're paying, and it pains me to think about it. It's also not a hybrid, something else that eats away at me. I do my best, people!

So, we have the new financial strain of a huge car payment. We're moving toward a less consumer-driven lifestyle (I know that sounds ridiculous, what with the new car and all) to make up for the hit our checking account will be taking. I'm doing the grocery game thing, hunting through sales ads to find the best deals. Planning meals around what's cheap that week, which is taking a lot of getting used to. I was a spoiled grocery shopper before, pretty much buying whatever I felt like.

I also got the flu, a very long stretch of it, and wasn't up for doing much. Thankfully my mom is around to help with the kids, because every square inch of my body ached. I'm okay now, and hoping that'll be it for our family and the flu this year. Fingers crossed...

I'm going to be volunteering at a local animal hospital starting next week. I'm excited to get back into veterinary work again, and I hope it eventually leads to a paid position.

Meanwhile, I finally lost the 4lbs I'd gained while being completely lazy on the WW plan. I feel re-energized about the whole thing, and have been getting in good workouts. Woo hoo!