SOC Sunday- Inhibitions and judgements

This is my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post hosted by all.things.fadra. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

    •    Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
    •    Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
    •    Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.

Five minutes. Got it. Ready, set, go.

So, I'm late with my SOC post. My father in law is in town for the week, and we packed up the heathens (aka our kids) and drove down to San Antonio early Saturday morning, and we drove back yesterday. It was only a 4 hour drive, but the drive back took longer since we stopped at a few stores and broke up the drive.

So basically I was too freaking tired to do it yesterday. And I realized that never again will I share a hotel room with my 3 kids. Arielle talked in her sleep, which woke up the baby at 11pm. Then Jasmin started snoring, which woke up the baby at 2am. Then the baby woke up crying at 4am, and I said screw it and just pulled her in bed with me. So after not getting much sleep the previous two nights, I passed out last night.

So after the Alamo, the Riverwalk, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and dinner,  hubby and the FIL took my oldest two to the pool, and I stayed in the room with Ava. She was tired, and it was way past her bedtime, and I always try to give hubby some time alone with his dad. 

So they get back, and Jake was telling me that there was another little girl at the pool, so my two ran over to her and started playing. Splashing, pretending to be ninjas and mermaids, stuff like that. 

And I got to thinking. I've always loved how uninhibited children are. That every other person their size is just a friend they haven't met yet. My kids will be playing with another kid at the park for an hour, and my girls will tell me "I made a new friend!" And when I ask them what their friends name is, I get the "I dunno" response in return.

You always hear stories about bullying and such. And then there are cliques, and mean girls, and the "in" crowd and the cool kids.

At what point does it change? As much as I try to teach my girls about accepting other people and their differences, people judge. You're too skinny. Too fat. Your clothes aren't name brand.

  

I know eventually, my kids will have to deal with it. Either as the giver or the receiver of the judging and school torment. I just wish they could always be so free and uninhibited. 

Diet Tips? Myths? Can I get a hells yeah?

So, I'm feeling pretty awesome today.

We borrowed the Insanity workout series from a friend. I told you that I did my first Insanity workout on Tuesday, right? Totally kicked my ass. The program says you're supposed to do it 6 days a week for 60 days. Well, I'm going to be honest with myself and aim for 3-4 times a week. And yeah, I'm a stay at home mom, and I could I'm sure find time to do it 6 days a week. But there's no sense in lying to myself and setting myself up for failure. 

So I woke up at 6am for some reason today. And rather than lay in bed until my alarm went off at 6:40, I decided to get up and do a work out. I chose to do the Cardio Abs disc. I mean, it's 16 minutes long. 16 minutes. I have 16 minutes. So I did it, and I was pretty damn proud of myself. 

Can I get a hells yeah? 

I also have P90X, but I much prefer Insanity. Sorry, Tony Horton fans, but I don't care for him. Don't know why, I just don't. 

So I got to thinking about all the random diet/exercise tips I've heard about. I read in one magazine that some celebrity eats a portion of her meal at the restaurant, and then covers the leftovers in salt so she won't eat the rest. Sounds like a waste of money to me, but hey, I'm not a celebrity. 

Another one I read said that before her food is brought out to her, she asks that half of it be placed in a to go box (since most restaurant portions are over double what you should be eating). That one makes sense to me. I dig that one. 

And I've heard of other techniques to help lose weight. Pictures of skinny ladies on the fridge. Pictures of not so skinny ladies on the fridge. Doing push ups and crunches during commercial breaks. 

I bought a pedometer for $20 off of Amazon. I've been watching "Too Fat for 15", and one of the things they try and instill in their students is a goal of 10,000 steps a day. Right now, it's almost noon and I'm at 2354 steps. And that's with just walking around, doing chores and stuff. But I do find myself walking around in circles, just so I can get my step count up. 

And I'll admit, my downfall. I'm hopelessly addicted to Coke. I tried to limit it to one can a day, but if it's in the house, at the end of the day, I'll have 3 or 4 empty cans on the end table next to the couch. So rather than say "No Soda Ever", I'm not buying it for the house, and I'm limiting myself to only having it when we go out to eat (which is 2-3 times a week). Figure it's better than what I was doing, and again, I don't want to set myself up for failure. 

For those who have seen the shirtless pics of hubby in random posts, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say there's no way I can ever keep up with his "5 workouts/2 mma classes a week" schedule. But I gotta start somewhere. 

We tend to eat pretty healthy, most nights. I've found that I can't go food shopping when I'm hungry, or I end up with bags of powdered donuts and sea salt and vinegar Lays in the cart. And I'll admit, there has been times when I'll open the bag of chips, and after a while, I'll reach my hand in the bag, and it's empty. EMPTY. In ONE sitting. Geez, I'm sure I would need higher math skills to figure out the calories in an entire bag.

I tend to get really bored with working out. So I'm really hoping I stick with Insanity. 

So, do you have any diet tips that have worked? Any crazy diet myths/fads/habits that you've heard of? Exercises you love? Hate? Or just want to give me a hells yeah for motivation?

What I'm Loving Wednesday 4-6-2011

So, I've been feeling pretty blah lately. Life is good, I have no complaints. But blah about my blog. While I blog for me, it's a bit of a downer day after day to do what I think is an insightful or fun post, and then get only a couple of comments. And while I am years out of high school, and Blogland isn't a popularity contest, it's hard not to be bummed sometimes, ya know? I'm guilty of it too, I follow a bazillion blogs, so it's easy to just scroll thru posts on Google reader, and while I may enjoy a post that is totally deserving of a comment, I just scroll past it to read the rest, and forget or neglect to come back to it. But that's something I need to work on. Can't whine about it if I'm not even doing it, right? 

But anywho, I digress. Time to get back to being positive. Whining gets ya nowhere. 

So, I'm linking up with Jamie in today's link party.

1. I'm loving that I did Day One of the Insanity workout last night. I did so much better than I thought I would! I'm just tired of always bitching about the 4 lbs I want to lose (as I grab another Coke from the fridge and sit on the couch). Time to do something about it.

2. I'm loving that it's hubby's birthday next Tuesday. The big 2-8! I plan on making him a fun cake. Not going to tell you what I'm attempting, in case it's a huge disaster and I end up with a big blobby mass of cake mush on a plate. I hope he loves what I got for him.

3. I'm loving that my father in law is coming to visit on Friday. Which means that sometime between now and then, my house will stop looking like a tornado hit it and I'll actually have cleaned by then. Oh, and I like him too so that's always a plus.

4. I'm loving that this weekend, we're driving down to San Antonio. Going to check out the Alamo and the Riverwalk. I went to both of those when I graduated from basic training in 1999, but I don't really remember them.

5. I'm loving how sore I still am this morning from my workout! Means I totally kicked ass last night. Oh, and a word of warning. Do NOT do a Google search for "sore body". Ummmm, ewwww. Not images that I want to see this early in the morning.

What's on Jen's phone? 4-5-2011

It's Tuesday. And even though only 2 people commented on my last week's phone post, I know you're all waiting on the edge of your seat with baited breath, just waiting to see this week's pics. It was a pretty low key week, just mainly did family stuff and pretended that we liked each other.

The girls had their sports pics done this week. I can't wait to see how cute the real pics will turn out.

I got lucky and timed this when the photographer was taking her pic. Arielle's hat kept blacking out her pretty face.

Then we watched the girls games. Luckily this week they were in the morning so it wasn't too hot. This is us at Arielle's softball game.

Ava was obviously impressed by Jasmin's soccer skills at her game.

I fell in love with this man just a little bit more.

It was warm enough in Texas that the girls went swimming at my mom's friends house.

Arielle had fun swimming too.

And we enjoyed the yummy Korean food that they had.

And my silly girl continued being the cutest baby. Ever.

The guidelines.

1. spend the week looking for interesting, funny, cute, special, lovely, ugly, silly, crude (okay maybe not crude), or other worthy pictures. and by that it pretty much means anything.

2. when you find them, snap a shot with your phone.

3. then on tuesday, upload it into your blog.

SOC Sunday- You don't need to pet me, mmmkay?

This is my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post hosted by all.things.fadra. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

    •    Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
    •    Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
    •    Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.

Five minutes. Got it. Ready, set, go.

So, I'm pretty excited about today. I'm getting my arm tattooed by an artist I've been wanting to work on me for a long time. But he's usually booked up months at a time. But a couple of weeks ago, I checked and he had today available. And of course, I snagged that appointment slot. Booyah! I already have a big day of the dead skull on my arm, with flowers. I know I want more flowers on it, but honestly I'll take his advice and opinion and go from there. 

Unless you have visible tattoos (and I don't mean that little kanji on your ankle), you don't realize how flippin weird some people are about tattoos. I have a number of them, I'd say I'm moderately tattooed? And I have a number of piercings. Nose, two barbells in my tongue, and about a million in my ears in all the weird places (not just the lobes).

What is it about modifications that make people act so damn weird? I've had strangers come up and without even saying a word to me, start rubbing my tattooed arm. And when I look at them with a "what the hell are you doing" look on my face, they tell me "Oh, I just wanted to see what your tattoo felt like." I mean, excuse me? How did a tattoo magically make you forget socially accepted "personal space"? I mean, if you're wearing a faux fur vest or something, you don't see me walking up and "petting" you.

A few years ago, I took my oldest daughter to a new doctor for a check up. I don't know what nationality/religion he was, or if that even pertains to the story, but I know he was Middle Eastern. But he looks at my tattoo, and asks "Why don't you believe in God?" So because I have a skull on my arm, I now have "I hate God" stamped on my forehead? My husband works at a church, and while a t-shirt covers up most of my tattoo, you can still see part of it, and I've never had anyone at church give me a hard time about it. So now I need to explain myself to a pediatrician, who should be checking out my daughter's allergies instead of lecturing me about my religious preferences? Oh, and the conversation ended with him telling me that worshipping the devil isn't a good idea. WTH, dude? And yeah, we don't go there anymore.

Hubby says that even though tattoos are becoming more mainstream and socially accepted (and heck, even Animal Planet had a commercial with a heavily tattooed guy holding a frou-frou dog), choosing to put something like that on display is asking to be judged. But, if I'm not going to walk up to you and ask why you're wearing mom jeans, or rockin' a comb over, I feel like that should be a two way street.

I mean, most people, if they say anything, it's just "Oh, I love your tattoo!". That's cool, and I appreciate it.

But, the strangers who walk up, and say with an accusatory tone, stupid stuff like "Why would you do that to yourself?" How am I supposed to answer that? Or for that matter, since when was I required to explain myself to a perfect stranger? Want to ask me if it hurt? That's cool. You want to ask me if it means anything? Go right ahead, I love talking about myself :)

But there is a HUGE difference between asking questions and confronting a stranger about their personal choices.

So why would I do that to myself? I did it because I'm awesome and I felt like it, that's why. :)

Marriage is for suckers

Well, according to some of my facebook friends, it is.

What is it about facebook that makes people want to spill their guts? When did FB become a personal diary? Did people forget that other people can read it?

I don't mind the updates. I'm lazy, so I like being able to keep up with people, without having to send out emails, photos, etc. What I do mind? People bashing their spouses, and forgetting that everyone can read it.

You want to post that you had a bad day? Have at it. Your kids are driving you crazy? Yeah, mine are too. Your car isn't running right and you might have to buy a new one? I get it.

But when people start posting "My husband is such a d-bag, I can't believe I married that effer",  I have a problem with that. Especially when in ten minutes, they've deleted it and replaced it with "I heart my hubby, he's super duper awesome!" So, because you've made up and things are all sunshine and roses again, you think deleting the crap you just wrote about him makes it so it never happened?

I don't care if hubby and I have just had World War 3, you will never hear about it on FB. I have more respect for my husband, angry or not, to ever degrade him in "public". And yeah, yeah, I get it, your page is "private" so it's okay. Well, unless you have NO friends on your page, what you just wrote was read by your friends, your family, and I'm sure your spouse. Why expose the rest of the world to your private problems?

I posted the above status on my FB yesterday, after reading someone's status. Basically, she said that she's always been miserable in her ten plus year marriage and she thought that marriage is supposed to be fun. Then, her husband comments and says he agrees, that he's miserable too and marriage isn't what he thought. Well congratulations, you both look like idiots.

But one thing that really made me smile? A friend commented on my status and wrote some really sweet things.

Did I mention that I've never met her in person, and she's only met my husband once? So, her view of our marriage is strictly based on what we say about each other on FB, and what she's heard about us from other people.

The stuff you will see on my (and hubby's) facebook?

Jake and I obviously joke around a lot, appreciating your spouse doesn't always have to be all mushy, lovey-dovey, "You make the birds sing and the sun rise" stuff.

But when did people forget that they are supposed to lift up their spouse, not bring them down? When did your vow to "love, honor, and cherish" your partner become "love (when it's easy), honor (when you feel like it), and cherish (when it's convenient)?"

My marriage isn't perfect, no one's is. But when I'm feeling upset or something, I have a couple of girlfriends that I talk to. That's fine, and HEALTHY. It's healthy to talk about your problems. What I don't find acceptable or appropriate is to  rant, bitch, and degrade your spouse to ALL of your friends, family, acquaintances, old high school classmates, etc on a place like FB.

Think about it. Some people's only view of you and your marriage is through what you post (because it's not just close friends that we have on FB that know the whole story, you have acquaintances on there too). And that goes for blogs too. If ALL you ever do is post about how miserable you are, what an idiot your spouse is, how much you hate your life, well guess what. People are NOT sympathizing with you. We're thinking that maybe it's YOU with the problem, since you'd rather spend your energy bitching about your spouse than talk to them. Because God forbid, you actually have to WORK at your marriage. Crazy idea, right?

Think about what you're writing before you hit that "share" button. Because even though you may go and delete it, you've just broken down your marriage a little bit. Your anger will subside, but the damage remains. 

What I'm Loving Wednesday 3-30-2011

So, I'm linking up with Jamie in today's link party.

1. I'm loving the 30% off coupon that I got for Kohl's. Which yielded me two pairs of Hydraulic capris (love that brand, fits my tushie well and doesn't show off my muffin top), plus a bunch of new shirts for the girls, and these wedges for me. Candies wedges for $23? What what!

2. I'm loving that I won one of the giveaways thru the fundraiser that Crystal held for Austin. Gotta love donating money and something from my Etsy store to help a precious boy, and ending up winning a prize. I picked these shoes by Carlos Santana.

3. I'm loving that I've been writing down all of my calories for the past week, and trying to keep them around 1500. And I'm especially loving the fact that I've lost 3 lbs so far, and that I went and did Cardio Fit last night with my friend Jen, even though I wanted to sit in my warm house. And I'm loving the pina colada I had afterwards to celebrate.

4. I'm loving all the suggestions I got when I asked for ideas of where to do Arielle's 8th birthday party. I researched all of them, put together prices, number of guests, location, etc. Then I told Arielle what our options are, and she says "I just want to do another skating party like last year." Silly girl, but at least now we know the location, and I've made the reservations.

5. I'm loving that since it's Wednesday, we'll be going out to eat tonight. The girls have practice on Wednesdays, so we go out to eat afterwards. We're trying to cut down on how often we eat out. But I heart going out to eat.

6. I'm loving that my tattoo appointment is this Sunday! Been wanting to get my arm worked on some more since forever, and the guy I want to have tattoo me is usually booked 4 months out. But I checked a couple of weeks ago, and he had an opening for this Sunday, and I got it. Woot! I'm excited! Not excited for the healing process though.

7. I'm loving this video that hubby shot last night when I was working out.