Return of the Rash

Remember the song - Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison, circa 1996? 
Well, I made up my own version of the famous chorus.

(Return of the Rash) - it was gone
(Return of the Rash) - it's comin' back
(Return of the Rash) - oh my God
(You know that it'll be back) - here it comes
(Return of the Rash) - once again
(Return of the Rash) - pump up the Prednisone
(Return of the Rash) - watch me explode
(You know that it'll be back) - here I go

(You lied to Me) - cos the doc said you'd never return to me
(You lied to Me) - but you did, but you did
(You lied to Me) - all these pains he said I'd never feel again
(You lied to Me) - but I do, but I do, do, do

And now that I got this song stuck in your head...have a great day, I'm off to get more steroids.

P.S. - I do realize this doesn't rhyme.  Hey, we can't all be great Poets. 
I gotta leave something for the rappers of the world to do :)

Here's the dang pic of my Return of the Rash.  Just my arm, no worries, I won't show you the patches that never cleared up.  My arm is a much more appropriate picture.  At least I went to the Doctor early this time and won't have to go thru the excruciating painful-ness of it spreading. 

Burpee Challenge - Day 10

Whoever thought this was a good idea should be shot!  Well, maybe just with a BB gun or a rock or something, not to kill, cause really it's a good thing, but this is kicking my butt!!

Today is the day to do 10 Burpees. 
So far, I've (and Jessica too!) done 45 Burpees.  Yes, this has spanned over 9 days.  BUT, still, that is 45 Burpees that I would not have otherwise done.  So, Bravo. 

This morning, none were done, and we are definately at the point where they need to be broken up throughout the day.  I'll do them, just not all at once, and not right now.

I wanted to check in.  Is anyone else doing this with us?  Is anyone else getting thier butts kicked? Or is it just me? 

I have realized a few things, and I am not sure if it is because of this challenge, or just because I figured them out, but either way:
*Round is a shape. 
*I am not in any kind of shape right now, except Round.
*My lungs are not in shape either.
*Burpees are really hard.
*Diet plays a huge role in how you feel.
*Excercise plays a huge role in how you feel.
*Cookies can fix anything
*So can music
*Try to fix it with music first.

Ok, here I go, I'm gonna go do 2.  And then I'll do 4 later, and 4 more even later-er. 

Until then, chin up buttercup!

Bad Moods are Contagious

Yes.  They are.  Very much so.  Not often do I wake up in a bad mood.  I am very good at coming home in them; however, the waking up in them doesn't usually happen.  So, to my dismay, today is one of those days. 

Addie had wanted to get up early and straighten her hair, so we give her an alarm to use, to wake herself up at 5.  Because apparently, it takes and hour and a half to straighten her hair.  And I am not sure the reasoning behind the straightening because today is Tuesday.  Tuesdays are daycare days.  Daycare days are pool days.  Swimming is not conducive to keeping hair straight.  But whatever, it's not my hair. 

Anyways, I heard the alarm go off at 5.  Addie has decided that her bed is junk, and sleeps on her couch.  I sleep with the door open.  So, I hear the alarm.  She must not have known how to turn it off, because it went off every 9 minutes for the next, oh lets say 54 minutes. 

So, she is up.  And so are the dogs.  Simba has been in quite a few times wondering why we are not feeding him.  KV has been nail dragging all over the house.  And that friggin alarm keeps sounding. 

When I finally look at my phone to get the time, guess what time it is... 6:18.  Are you kidding me?!?!  I have to leave in 20 minutes. 

Good Morning Bad Mood. 

Addie is a little ray of sunshine in all this.  Of course at first, she is the one who will bear the brunt of the Bad Mood Morning, and she does, ever so gracefully.  On the way to daycare, this little love of mine tells me that she learned all the words to the song "Rolling in the Deep" because I told her I wanted to learn it.  So now she can teach me.  Dang it.  I hate when she is so sweet, it makes it harder to be mean!

Start feeling a little better, the clenching in my jaw has loosened, and I will take on the day. 

Get to work and enter the grocery bills from last night into my check register and start the balancing act. 
Bad Mood returns. 

Then Kristi shows me some of the new Thirty-One product she has just received. 
Bad Mood Gone.  The thought of shopping always cheers me up. 

Then I remember the Balancing Act.  No Shopping. 
It's creeping back up on me...

As I get out the Cheerios I packed for breakfast, I notice some pink in the bottom of my lunch bag.  Someone has given me 3 mini post its with a little message:

Bad Mood Gone

Right now, I will YouTube "Rolling in the Deep" and move on with my day.  For some reason, that song can make a Bad Day Good. 
At least that's what usually happens, last time I jammed out to it, the relaxation was quickly followed by a rear ending debacle.  Good thing I'm not driving.  I'm just sitting.  And working.

Working...uh oh...bad mood might be returning ;)

Simba, oh dear sweet Simba

Simba is our white lab. He is a nice boy.  He was found by a friend along the highway in Minnesota.  She attempted to find the owner for a good 3 months and no one came forward to claim this sweet boy; so he was sent to live with us.  He is really, truly a nice sweet boy.  So, why do I dislike him so much?  I do love him, please don't get me wrong, I would be terribly hurt and sad if something were to happen to him, I just don't really like him. 

I think part of it is that he is really needy.  We call him a "Tit Baby".  And this fits him.  He is that dog that is constantly underfoot, the one who needs to sit on your lap, and the one who must be touching you in some way at all times.   

Simba is our 1-man welcoming committee.  Open the front door and come on in.  And then please stand in the front entryway until Simba is satisfied that he has recieved enough of your attention to let you pass. 

Simba is our teddy bear.  He sleeps in our bed.  And must be touching one of us at all times.  If we move, he will too.  Generally, he will sleep at the foot of the bed on my side, well not really the foot.  I lay on my back and put my legs over him, so he sleeps under my knees.  And if I shift to my side, he wedges himself between me and Deron. 

Simba is our lap dog.  If you go to sit down, he will too.  Either at (ON) your feet, or in your lap.  And yes, he is very large.  It doesn't necessarily need to be your entire lap, if he can get a paw on your leg, he'll be ok for a bit.  But please believe, he will inch his way into your lap.  By the time the movie is over, he will be curled up with his little nose in your neck, like a little baby. 

And if you get up, even if it's to grab the remote from the coffee table, he will also get up.  And wait for directions. 

He really is a good boy.  But, I think that this is the reason we didn't have more children.  And I am starting to understand a little better.  Simba is a toddler.  When he came to live with us, the vet guesstimated that he was under 2 years old.  So, now a year later, we will say he is under 3.  Either way, he is a pain in my ass.  But, every day he is learning.  And some things, I think he is picking up on.  Others, not so much. 

He has been gone for 2 weeks with Mariah to MN.  It was lovely. 
I only vacuumed once while he was gone.  Vacuuming is a daily chore. 
I also slept until 6 every morning while he was gone.  This morning, I heard the familiar chiming of his tags...at 5:15. 
I was able to cook dinner or unload the dishwasher or move around in general while he was gone.  Last night, I tripped over him twice before I shrieked and he ran to Daddy.

And I said to Deron this morning, I don't think I missed him while he was gone. 

But I did.  I missed him alot.  It was so wierd and "un-normal" in our house without him there. 

Something else about this dog...he is a giant Chicken Wiener.  He is afraid of everything. 
Here is the view when we did fireworks at our house:

And this morning when the thunderstorm was giving our poor dry grass, vegetables and plants a much needed shower, Chicken Wiener and company all joined me in the bathroom as I prepared for the day.

All in all, he is a lover.  And I like lovers.  And really how can you say no to and not love anything that looks like this

He is such a beautiful creature.  Even when he pretends to be vicious (or yawn)

And he makes a good friend to my Brew

So I guess I might learn to like him.  In the meantime, I will only secretly like him, and continue to pretend I don't. 

I Rammed Her Back End...

...Again. 

For the second time, I rear ended someone.  Well, I guess if you count that time on my 17th birthday, this would be 3.  But I am only counting these 2.  Cause these 2, I did in Mariah's truck. 

Yes, I crashed the childs truck.  Again.

Oh, what a day!  My morning started out completely awful.  Bad moods are contagious, and I caught it.  After I drop Addie off at the sitter, I am still a bit steeming and not really all there.  There is a good song on the radio, so I turn it up, and start singing along.  This soothes me, and I am calming down, feeling ready to take on my day.  I even do the so very cliche "Bring It On Day" chant at the top of my lungs to myself and anyone else that has their windows down.  I'm ready, Bring It On Day, I got this! 

So, when I pull up to the stoplight, I see the car there, I think she is moving, as this is what normal people do when it is safe to turn, I slow to the intersection, stop and look to the left to make sure there are no cars coming, and I go.  Well, turns out, she wasn't going.  No worries, I gave her a nice push.   

Now mind you, had I had my little itty bitty Neon, this would be pretty much a non-issue.  There is no way that any damage would have happened, she wouldn't have moved, maybe I would have dented a license plate.  I "tapped" her going about 1.5 miles per hour.  However, I was not driving my itty bitty Neon.  I was driving a Big Giant Blue Silverado, with tow hooks on the front even.  So guess what this nice lady now has. 

Anyways, I realize that in a "rear-end" situation, it is clearly your fault.  And I will accept that.  I certainly can't blame the girl who didn't turn when it was safe to turn, it was her choice to sit there, and I have to respect that.

Whatever, bottom line is that I rammed some nice, pregnant lady (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that part!!) on her way to work. 

And the best part....wait for it....I did this on the off ramp RIGHT OUTSIDE MY JOB!!!  So co-workers, managers, visitors, everyone who knows me pretty much, got to drive by or look out the window and see what a complete moron I am.  And yes, I have been approached...repeatedly...by folks who saw it, or folks who drove by, or folks who saw me talking to the cops in the parking lot.  I am not sure if my name getting around like this is exactly how I wanted my reputation to be established.  Honestly, I am much better at my job, than I am at driving.  In fact, I am better at a lot of things than I am at driving. 

And....even better...the insurance coverage...goes with the vehicle...not the driver...so, the full coverage I pay for in the event that I do something stupid like this, does not apply.  Well, this is what I am told anyways.  This is a conversation that will be re-held at a later time.  In the meantime, I think I may take a cue from my Seester and hold a bake sale.  Proceeds going towards whatever damage I may have caused to Mariah's truck.  So far, looks like no damage.  Sounded fine when I pulled into the parking lot from the "crash site", and didn't drive any differently, so I am crossing my fingers.  Of course, last time, when I hit the nice old man, it seemed fine.  And then I went to Starbucks.  And then the radiator needed to be replaced.  Say a prayer please, and I'll stay away from Starbucks, together we can get thru this. 

Burpee Challenge

I have mentioned before that I track my food on myfitnesspal.com and sometimes I spend some extra time tootling around the website looking at things people post and such.  Today, I was doing some tootling after entering my lunch items and found a Burpee Challenge.  I do believe I will take this challenge.  And I invite you to take it with me. 

Here is how it goes:
The idea is to complete burpees each day for 100 consecutive days, increasing in reps each day, starting at 1 burpee on day 1, and finishing with 100 burpees on day 100.
The Rules:
1. Use proper burpee form (start standing, jump feet backward to plank, complete a good form push up, jump forward to squat position, jump up with feet completely off the ground)
2. You can complete each day's burpees all at once, or broken up and done at different times throughout the day
3. If for some reason you miss a day, you have to make up all the missed burpees the following day
4. If you don't start the challenge on the first day, you can "buy-in" at any time by doing ALL the missed days burpees on your first day
5. Any burpees you complete during your regular workout can count towards that day’s Challenge burpees, if you want them to
6. Have fun doing burpees and getting stronger doing it!

I do believe that this will be a challenge.  And to be quite honest, I have gained quite a bit of unhealthy weight since going on Prednisone for my Poison Ivy. When they say that a side effect will be "increased hunger" it's not just increased, it is like you have developed a hollow leg and there is no way that you can be satisfied when you eat.  I tried eating good tasting foods so that I could savor the flavor and eat slower and get fuller faster.  No, still hungry.  I tried eating good for me foods so that I wouldn't feel so bad about it later.  No, still hungry.   The hungry would not go away!!  I would eat and eat and eat until I was in pain.  But, still, I would continue to be hungry.  And so I would eat again.  And I have paid for it, dearly!  I'm now done with the prednisone, and my hunger control is returning to normal.  The Poison Ivy, well, that's a different story, and a whole nother blog post!  But, point being, I'm over the scarily hungry part...and ready to be me again!

So, this Burpee Challenge seems to be just the thing to help me get my hind end moving again, and in time, help me shed my extra poundage I have aquired in the last 2 weeks. 

This challenge started yesterday on MFP.  So, really, today is Day 2. 

Who else is "Buying In" to the challenge with me?  Go do 3 burpees, and then come back and tell me, "YES, I'm in"

Our Zoo Adventure - the rest of it

Here are the rest of our photos and the last of our Zoo tour.

Saturday Morning~ getting ready to head out

Boa ~ Creepy!

I just thought this was cool cause it was called a Boomstang.  Ha!  Boomstang!  New favorite word :)

Penguins in the Arctic Tundra - during early morning gossip hour

Spider Monkeys - this is where Addie started singing "Spider Pig" and got it stuck in all of our heads



Troop 8314

It was a great time, some of the pics turned out, some didn't, but we will have a few good scrapbook pages and a lot of good memories. Something else that we did and were both pretty proud of was riding the Skyfari.  It is a ski lift type "ride" giving you a birds eye view of the zoo.  Addie didn't want to get on, I pressured her (and called her a chicken weiner), and she did it.  Little did she know that I was shaking in my shoes (literally) the entire ride.  But, alas, we made it alive, and Addie conquered her fear and actually asked to ride it again.  Yay Addie!! I forgot how truly awesome zoos and animals in particular are, good reminder.