Where Did THAT Come From??

Sunday I felt perfectly fine. Monday morning I felt fine, got the kids off to school, came home and chatted with my nephew who was visiting for the weekend with my brother-in-law. Nephew wanted to go to the skateboard park so I got ready to take him around 9:30 and thought I'd go from there to the gym. I was getting dressed to work out and realized that I didn't feel very good. That seemed kind of weird but I figured it would pass. I drove to the skate park, feeling worse every passing second. I thought---well, I'll run to the library and see if I still feel this bad and then I guess I'll have to skip my workout today. The library was torture, I went straight home from there and straight to bed. I felt awful---my stomach was in agony and I was doing everything in my might not to throw up (one of my most hated things). I slept until time to pick up my nephew. Came home and slept until time to pick up my kids from school. Came home and never got back out of bed the rest of the day.

Was it food poisoning?? (Don't know what it could've been from). Was it a weird 24-hour flu?? Nobody else seems to have it, and I feel better today. Very bizarre indeed. It was the Monday that wasn't.

You Call That Fat?

Recently I've seen several references to the weight gain of Tyra Banks (a former model and host of the show "Next Top Model" for the few who might not know), and now the latest People magazine has an article regarding recent headlines and an interview with Tyra Banks.

I, personally, am not a fan of Tyra Banks....but come on----fat??? Give me a break. Is she heavier than she used to be when she was modeling? Yeah. Is she the approximate size of a yardstick? No. Could she stand to lose 25 pounds or so? Yeah, if that was important to her. Is she as flat as a pancake, without any curves or shape---like an ironing board? No.

A part of the interview that got to me was when she said she had to explain to her girls that the photos in question weren't "ugly". And that's the part that concerns me: young girls are fed the message constantly that being painfully thin---at any cost---is beautiful. Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and all that, but what's pretty about a skeleton? Makeup helps and draping the skeleton with cute clothes can help....but what about hugging it? You might get poked or jabbed by a protruding bone. To say nothing about the health risks.

At any rate, can we all agree that Tyra Banks isn't fat? A lot of things maybe, and some of them not so flattering, but "fat" isn't one of them.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

...like you've never heard it before. A little Friday fun:



The Lion Sleeps Tonight - video powered by Metacafe

Puff The Magic Dragon

Well, I don't know about "magic" but today at the Y, a very annoying thing kept happening. I was on the arc trainer (an elliptical machine, very cool) and there was a lady on one next to me with headphones on (thus rendering her unable to hear herself, if you follow me). I was going along purposefully, minding my own business, when I realized that she kept puffing out a loud "choo" of expelled breath. Every few seconds there would be another loud "choo". Well, it was kind of amusing, but no problem. If she needs to choo, whatever helps her get through her workout.

But then! Then she kept turning to her left, facing me, to scan the rest of the club. Her "choos" didn't stop---this time they were puffed right out onto my arm and body. It was not so amusing anymore. The first time I thought, "Well, that was a bit annoying," and assumed that would be the end of it. Nope. Every few seconds, my arm would get a puff. Each time I would move my arm behind my back rather pointedly---I mean, I didn't swing it wildly and glare at her or anything, but I thought it might be a little obvious that I wasn't exactly enjoying her "chooing" on my arm, as it were. She never picked up on my subtle cues.

I wasn't sure if I should be rude and ask her to stop puffing on me or just keep hoping that she didn't have any communicable diseases. If my arm falls off in the next few days I'll know I should've opted for being rude.

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

This has been the latest obsession of my two youngest:

A Little Trip To Vienna

This is one of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs. Watching this mini-travelogue makes me want to take a little trip.

Another One Down

Flu = 4 Wellness = 1

The flu got me good last night, though I seem to be feeling okay today. Not top-notch but okay.

My husband is the last man standing. Will he be victor or victim??

More About Beauty

A follow-up to the previous post, I found this article in the news today. Apparently beauty is very much a matter of mechanics and the right props. You don't even have to have real muscles!! To find out how, read this.

I Could Be Beautiful Too!

Females of all ages, really, but mostly young girls pore through fashion and glamour magazines, wanting to look like the models, pining for a perfect body and face and features. And if they had that most excellent body and that flawless face....why, their lives would be perfect of course! This is a little glimpse of the "art" of such perfection.

*Thanks, Bryan, for the link.

Next!!

So they're droppin' like flies. This morning my middle son got the bug and then my oldest. Sigh. This is just no fun, I tell ya. I've been feeling queasy myself but I'm not sure if it's my version of the flu or simply sympathy pains. At any rate, I won't look back on this week with any real fondness. Hope everyone else is staying healthy.

Life Is Just So.....Daily

That's on the front of a Mary Engelbreit card, and it's a line I've always liked. Because life isn't really made up of very many exciting, breathtaking moments. It's mostly the common, ordinary, usually boring, everyday kind of moments that are the main fabric of life. And right now those are including Round Two of the yucky flu with my youngest. He got sick on Monday in the early hours of morning---that horrible retching that awakens a mom from the deepest of sleep and launches her from bed. He seemed to be better yesterday, so I thought "that's that" and then he got it all over again this morning. He rarely gets anything---even a cold---and so this is just no fun for him. I can't say it's a day at the park for me, either. For two days everything's been out of sync...my workout, my errands, my plans. And I'm not resourceful like many---I don't seem to have a Plan B in my head. When Plan A goes haywire, I seem to let everything get all soupy and messy---my house, my habits, my diet, etc. I resolve to work out a Plan B.

So that hasn't been the most fun I've ever had. I guess it's payback for a fun time last week. My husband and I spent two days and nights in San Francisco while his parents stayed with the kids. It was so great. San Francisco was at its stunning best, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Our hotel was great (Hilton), the location was great (right in the middle of Chinatown, several blocks from Union Square), the weather was perfect (clear, sunny, warm)....just what I needed.

Maybe that was a storing-up time for these now not-so-pleasant days and for the discovery that a friend near and dear to my heart is apparently taking a direction in life that is leading and will lead her very far away from me. It has been exceedingly heavy on my heart these past few days, and I find myself in a sort of isolated place of grief, usually reserved for mourning someone who has died. But in some ways, it feels like that has happened or is in the process of happening. I purpose to be more optimistic and positive-feeling about it, but the dread inside me undermines my ability to do that very well. Life isn't always rosy and flawless....and mostly it's just so daily.

Resolution #1

I resolve to play the guitar like this by year-end.

(oh yeah---first I have to learn how to play the guitar at all. Well, it's good to be optimistic.)

Major Eye Roll

Before you make any plans this year, you better read this I guess.

Goodbye, Juergen

We got word tonight that a good friend of ours in Germany suddenly died. He was only in his mid-to-late 40's. He leaves behind a wife and two small children and many friends who are in shock. We didn't receive any details of what happened and for now we just wait. A sad way to start this new year, and my heart goes out to his family and to his parents who have now lost both of their sons (his brother has been gone for a number of years)....We'll miss you, Juergen.

Blah Blah Blah

Over the Christmas break, we decided to go to the snow. Our four-and-a-half hour trip turned out to be a ten-hour trip thanks to traffic, snow, chains-putting on, more traffic, various stops, etc. Finally we arrived at our hotel only to discover that our room had been taken because the airport had apparently been shut down. But for once it paid to be late: we were given, for the same price, a two-room suite! It was great.

We played in the snow the first day, and then back at the hotel the kids went swimming in the indoor pool. The next day we went skiing/snowboarding. The 11-degree temperature was a bit daunting yet somehow bearable...and when the sun came down it was even comfortable, give or take a few frozen toes and fingers here and there. I discovered that skiing is a bit like riding a bike---ya just don't really forget how (it's been 20 years since I've been). Everyone else snowboarded and my husband discovered that he's not 20 anymore.

All in all it was a fun time. I drove by the two houses I lived in years ago and the school I attended. We got together with some people that we know one evening. We ate too much food and got our fill of TV-watching (not having a TV at home, there's always the tendency to overdose when we're in a hotel). The trip home was much quicker than the trip there, and all was as we had left it at the ole home place (with the exception of our back fence that blew over during a windstorm while we were gone). As fun as it is to go away, it's always nice to be home.

And now we begin a new year. Here's to happiness, success and smooth sailing!!