Comfy Chaos

I was really excited earlier today when I realized that I liked a hair product soooooo much that I actually used the entire bottle.  Not my usual “oh, it’s almost empty enough” used the entire bottle where there’s half an inch or so left at the bottom.  I’m talking keeping the bottle upside down for days, trying to grab every last drop and being tempted to put a Q-tip inside to get everything out kind of using the entire bottle.  Joy.  Pure joy.

Then I realized…I was looking at a bottle of conditioner.  Sure, it’s great and all, but my issues with conditioner pale in comparison to those with shampoo.

Killjoy.

This is the last week of this session of boot camp. Although I’m officially sidelined most of last week and this week by my doctor, it’s fair to say that I completed the first three weeks.

Essentially, while I like boot camp, it hasn’t won me over. I’m a night owl and having to be somewhere ready to exercise at 5:30 am is really hard for me. I’d much rather get up at 5:45 and spend some time on my treadmill where I don’t have to worry about looking human. I also don’t like being sore or hurting somewhere different every stinking day. The worst part? Still no cute shoes!

So, for now, I’m not planning on going back. I have that 500 mile goal to focus on. I am going to mix up my home workout a bit – there are a few things we did in boot camp that I really enjoyed. Plus, rumor has it that Rockacito J is going to throw down a few more challenges for us this year. I just hope he has the right shoes.

Well, here we are.  Time to start fresh with posting monthly stats for the first time this year.  I’d probably feel better about it if I hadn’t been sidelined for the last week.  Stupid tendinitis.  Anyway…remember that goal I mentioned of 500 miles this year?  Might as well track progress for that too. Here we go!

• Monthly Miles:  21.59
• YTD Miles:  21.59
• Miles to Goal:  478.41

I was tempted to post Rockacito J’s progress towards our goal, but hey, it’s not a race.

Here’s to better mileage next month!

It’s enough to drive a rockacita crazy.

It seems like every week or so, my munchkin comes home with some random goodie bag from a class birthday party.  The contents are usually similar – plastic bag, candy, non-functional eraser shaped as some cartoon character, pencil that breaks anytime you sharpen it, and some random toy that likely will be recalled for lead violations down the road if it doesn’t break first.  At other birthday parties, the goodie bags are similar…just bigger.  We have gone to many parties where the parents really go all out and provide nice toys, books, or other items too.  In the end, it gets kind of overwhelming.

Oh, I’ve fallen into the same trap many times.  I’ve tried stuffing goodie bags full of stuff.  I’ve tried finding things that were cool or would be used more than once.  I even tried giving away gift certificates for ice cream at Baskin Robbins.  I learned a few things in the process:

• kids expect goodie bags, but don’t care much about what’s in them
• the “great” goodie bags can cost more than the rest of the party
• give a kid a piece of paper, even if it means they get ice cream, and you get some really interesting looks.

I’ve decided to stop the insanity, at least for me.  This year, I told my munchkin we weren’t doing goodie bags for either of her birthday parties.  I was waiting for her to protest, but instead we talked about how most of those things end up in the trash and that’s not good for the planet.  Some of the goodie bags are great, but we don’t really need what’s in them.  We could take the money that would go towards goodie bags and use it for something else.  I spared her the no goodie bag version of MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech that was running through my head.

I had a meeting with my munchkin’s teacher and decided to mention my no goodie bag theme this year.  I’m glad I told her up front because it sounds like each time there’s a party, one of the first things the kids start talking about is the goodie bag.  She got to have a teaching moment.  I got to have mommy anxiety thinking that my kid would suddenly be a social outcast because I was trying to make a point, or maybe I was just being lazy.

About a dozen times before the party, I almost gave in.  I have cute bags left over from past parties.  I have healthy snacks.  I have plenty of new extra books.  I have a secret stash of Webkins.  I have random objects I want to get out of the house.

In the end, the class party went fine.  We had cupcakes outside on a nice, sunny, warm winter day.  At the pajama party at our house, the girls were much more involved in dancing, running around, screaming, playing, doing the art project, eating and laughing.  I didn’t hear a single comment about goodie bags, or the lack of them.

Oh sure, I’m still shaking my head at the girl who told me that frosting makes her barf – while she was standing over the rest of the cupcakes, with a mouthful of cupcake and frosting.  I might not like goodie bags, but I sure as hell rescued those cupcakes.

Back in October, Rockacito J and I were doing a race together and we realized something.  Our training had failed us.  Wait, that’s not entirely true.  It wasn’t our training, it was more like our failure to execute the plan.  There are many excuses, but we’ll just leave those in the past and move on.

On New Year’s Eve, Rockacito J emailed me that he set up our shared 2011 training log.  On New Year’s Day, I decided to throw down the gauntlet a bit and set a mileage goal for us, which is much larger than either of us had done the past 3 years.  Our new goal?  500 miles.  Each.  Which sounds like a lot considering how miserably the last two years have gone, but it’s really just 1.369863 miles per day.

Santa brought me a new Garmin for Christmas, so hey, I was ready.  I took it out of the box and what an experience!  It’s still not working right, but the Garmin folks are on it.  I think.  Something about how I need to wait for a firmware upgrade, so I’m trying to sort that out.  In the meantime, Rockacito J bought himself a new Garmin too, but he got the new, super flashy model.  He emailed support before he even powered it on.  We’ll see how that goes, too.

Anyway…after I’d thrown down that little goal for us, Rockacita Meredith started nudging me about joining her for some crazy boot camp at 5:30 am three times a week.  I actually had a debate with myself about it.

• I’m too busy. Seriously – what else am I going to do at 5:30 am?
• I need to get my munchkin ready for school.  Really?  She doesn’t wake up until 7am.
• I need to get my hubby’s buy-in.  Oh, come on!  He’s rarely awake before I even leave the house to take my munchkin to school.
• The dog will bark when I leave.  As if that will wake anyone in the house besides me, and I’ll already be gone.
• It will get in the way of my mileage goal.  Three days a week for boot camp still leaves four days a week to work towards the mileage goal.  Instead of 1.369863 per day, I just need to aim for 9 miles a week.
• Ok, this is silly.  Look on the bright side, I’ll be up early and get to see one of my best friends more often.  Sold!

Monday was our first day of boot camp and it was ok.  I made it back on Wednesday, which was harder.  It didn’t suck and it only hurts when I move.

What did I get myself into?

Well, it’s been a looong time since I’ve posted anything.  Sometimes life gets in the way and other times I’ll just blame Facebook.

2010 was an interesting year – some things good, some things bad, some things I don’t remember outside of the room spinning.

For what it’s worth, I’ve really missed blogging.  There have been so many blog-worthy experiences between funny things at home, all kinds of adjustments in life, endless frustrations on any number of things and…running.  Let’s not forget that, even though it seems like I did.

So…let’s see where this goes…

February had a good, long streak in it…then I started to get sick and had to back off.  Not exactly the numbers I wanted, but better than last month!  Monthly stats for February 2010:

Monthly Miles:  37.95
YTD Miles:  60.22

Oh…and Rockacito J…nice job getting some miles on our shared training log this month!

It’s been a really long time since I’ve written about…shampoo.

With the economy the way it is, I simply couldn’t bring myself to not finish a bottle of something unless I totally hated it.  I found ways around my silly little rule, like using waaaaaay too much product each morning to get through them faster.  Oddly enough, in the process, I actually found a few things that I like.  I also found out that I like them more if I don’t use the same thing day in and day out.  It’s like I have shampoo ADHD.

Now I’m happily keeping a couple of different options in the shower and using whatever I feel like each day.  As if my choice of shampoo will set my mood or something.  We’ll see how long this lasts.  I still think life is too short to use yicky shampoo.

Yet another sign that my little girl is growing up…she is now opinionated about her underwear.

Over the last few years, we’ve tried tons of styles and brands and fabrics and patterns and although many options looked great in the store, my munchkin was constantly tugging at her underwear and saying she was uncomfortable.  This photo includes about 40-50 pairs we’ve bought in the past months that have been worn maybe once or twice, tops.

A couple of weeks ago, we were out and about and out of nowhere, my munchkin tells me that her underwear are really comfortable.  I watch for the inevitable tugging and…nada.  As soon as we got home, I was checking out those chonies and I bought a bunch the next day.

So what did we do with the remaining pairs?  You guessed it…we sent them to Haiti.  May my munchkin’s pantypalooza cover many tushies of kids there.

I’ve been sick for about the last week.  I was supposed to have lots of rest but between my munchkin getting sick and some pressing items at work, I didn’t get as much as I would have liked for all the time I was home.  I did, however, manage to get in some movies.

Sunshine Cleaning.  I generally like Amy Adams and Steve Zahn and was looking forward to seeing this.  I enjoyed it, but wouldn’t say it was great.

The Hangover.  Let’s see.  I’m sick…I feel crummy…but…I can stay in bed, watch Bradley Cooper and laugh?  Sign me up!  This was pretty hyped up as one of the funniest movies ever by the time I saw it.  I didn’t think that, but it was a good one.

Love In The Time of Cholera.  Hmmm…I think this is what happens when people don’t feel well, can’t sleep and try to put on something that they’re hoping will put them to sleep.  I thought it was ok, but really am not sure how much of that was the Theraflu talking.

Barbie and the Diamond Castle.  Bet you didn’t expect this one, did you?  Well, when my munchkin got sick and needed to stay on the couch and rest, this is what she wanted to see.  I didn’t have enough energy to try and talk her out of it…the first time…or the second time…or the third.  At one point, I wanted to poke my eyes out, but I just gave up.  It’s not that bad…if you sleep through parts.

Gran Torino.  Get off my lawn!  Wow…I loved this movie.  Even my hubby stayed awake through this one.

Pearl Harbor.  In all fairness, this wasn’t the first time I’ve seen this movie and I’ll admit, it’s pretty bad.  There’s just something about it though.  Must be Josh Hartnett and his boyish charm in this one.  It certainly isn’t Ben Affleck and that horrible accent!

Now…if only I can finally get around to seeing Avatar while it’s still in the theaters…