the bulleted post

• smiling busy SAHM trying to keep up with it all and wondering where the last 2 weeks went
  
• smiling for my quick trip to Montreal to meet up with some special girlfriends and replenish my soul
• smiling for my new found love of chocolate martinis ;)
• smiling with my new MGW t-shirt and new scarf
• smiling at the fun nature walk I had with SCM this week
  
• smiling for the Senators hockey game we attended last week where we saw the son of very good friends stand with the hockey players on the ice during the national anthem
  
• smiling for baby boy who is progressing so rapidly in his hockey skills, he's a joy to watch
• smiling for baby girl who participated in her first Ontario Development Program for gymnasts and did great and had loads of fun
• smiling at the fact that the twins and I have joined a ski club
  
• smiling (widely) for the twins who turned 6 and had a fun and noisy b day party with all their friends and a quiet intimate celebration at home
• smiling at the fact that I've now organized 18 birthday parties and am working on the 19th
  
• smiling for big sis who spent Career Day working at the Montessori school she went to so many years ago and absolutely loved it and the kids have all been asking for her to come back
• smiling for big sis who started working on the school's radio station
• frowning at the amount of projects big sis has
• smiling that I'm able to help with all these projects and that she accepts my help willingly
• frowning that it's parent-teacher meetings for big sis again, hate those
• frowning at the thought that I have a cardiologist appointment coming up and will be on a monitor for 24 hours
  
• smiling for the great news that my friend just received: the lump in her breast is benign
• frowning for the wait we are enduring to find out about the lump in MIL's breast
• frowning for the results we just found out: baby girl is allergic to peanuts as well, as allergic as her brother
• frowning at the amount of money I'm spending on epi-pens
• smiling ate the positive results for my shoulder, nothing serious, will just need tons of physio, sigh
• frowning at having to deal with ALL these health issues
• smiling at the thought of the big ass 40th bday party we are going to this coming week-end
  

• frowning at the fact that hubby and the twins are in Florida for the week
• smiling knowing that they are having a good time and that the weather is good
• smiling at having spent so much one on one time with big sis and doing girlie things together
  
• smiling at the amount of organizing I've done around the house while they were gone
• smiling looking at close to 40 picture albums I filled over the past 3 days
• smiling knowing my babies are coming back home in 2 sleeps

Good thing there's a whole lot more to smile about than frown about/

classmates

Thanks for your comments guys, you certainly know how to make a girl feel good !

And LOL at the important stuff, like what I wore: long black skirt with slit down the side, sequined black high heel pumps, shimmery blue/purple blouse with rhinestone buttons and matching earrings, small satiny evening clutch, hair done the previous day at the hairdresser, meticulously applied make-up and, ahem, my little secret weapon "a tuck everything in the right place" undergarment ;)All in all an understated elegant look and an inner confidence and happiness radiating through. Oh, and a handsome well-attired and well-groomed hubby on my arm! A winning combination.

This is where we went: amazing food and the best cosmos I've ever had! Had to consume the alcohol early on as we were driving back home right after.

Out of 38 students in our class, 13 where females. The largest percentage ever in the school's history at that time. Many male professors where unhappy about this situation. So we had to prove ourselves even more, work harder than our male counterparts and got scrutinized even more. We didn't have a single female role model in our teachers. We were trailblazers. And we all did really well.

After the reunion, I realized that 7 out of 13 female classmates were still single and another two had gone through nasty divorces. That leaves only 4 of us in long term relationships. These girls went after their careers, but at what cost. Its becoming more and more difficult for them to enter meaningful relationships. It takes a mature, confident man to go out with a successful woman and not feel threatened by that. Much easier for our unmarried male counterparts. Three of them just got married in this past year and started families.

Just made me realize how lucky I am to be in a happy place in my life, because ultimately my friends, that's what its all about.

my other life

I'm a SAHM. And I've grown to love it. BUT if you told me 25 years ago that that's what I'd be doing, I'd have looked at you as if you had two heads.

From my early teenage years, I was focused on a career in the health field specifically. I was going to help people, make them better, discover something important. I had a vision and was intellectually motivated. I studied hard, worked hard and did eventually reach my goal. All is good, right? Not. Something was missing. Something that I'd never honestly given much thought about. But this feeling in the pit of my stomach kept nagging me and grew and grew. I wanted kids. All of a sudden I wanted to be a mom. Which I eventually became but it was a hard road. And to my biggest surprise, being a mom became more important than working hard at my career. All of a sudden my life's aspirations changed. Who would have known.

This past week-end I went to a conference relating to my previous career. Ran into a lot of colleagues, former employees. And the nagging question was always: "Don't you miss your career? When are you going back to work?" As if I'm not working now :~)

Then I attended a very special supper: my 20 year class reunion! Even though I didn't feel like going at first, I'm glad I did. In the matter of a few hours, we reminisced about so many little events. Funny how some people remember certain things so vividly, things that I totally forgot about.



24 years ago, 40 total strangers got thrown together. For 4 years we endured the most stressful situations, we saw each other at our worst and at our best. Good times and bad times. We laughed, we cried, we learned about each other and about ourselves. Needless to say, we got really close, didn't have a choice. Some lifelong friendships were created. Even though we don't all see each other often, our bond is still there. There was a lot of hugging going on. And trying to catch up with what happened with our lives: marriages, divorces, children, illnesses, people spread out all over the country. I was glad to see so many of them and how there lives turned out. But how does one summarize 20 years in a few minutes over drinks? It makes one invariably rethink our stand in our lives. Of course, the question often came up: "so where are you practicing now?" So many where surprised that I, one of the most driven in the class, was actually "retired" and a full time mom. Those with children understood and respected and admired my decision. Others were left quite perplexed. Even though everyone told me that I hadn't changed at all, the person they knew back then feels like someone different than the person I am now.

still hurts

Yesterday was my yearly physical and big sis' too. We went together; but she goes in on her own now, sigh, big girl that she is. But the doc then tells me everything that went on ;)

Long story short, I needed an Xray and figured we'd go right away to the lab as it was just down the street and a quiet time of the day we were told. I walked in to that particular lab and right away a major chill went right through me. Last time I was there was precisely 15 years ago. When I checked in, they had my address of 15 years ago which really confirmed it.

That day, in that lab, was not a happy day at all. I had just suffered a miscarriage at 4 months with my first pregnancy. A trip to the hospital confirmed it but they wanted an ultrasound to see if "everything" was expulsed and rule out the need for a D&C. (not sure if they even follow that protocol these days). So off to this lab we went. I hadn't cried at all up until the point where the technician put her probe up you know where. The sobs started coming out uncontrollably. She had the worst bedside manners and was giving me heck for moving so much while she was trying to "see". A black day in my life for sure.

As I was sitting there in the reception room, all those emotions came right back up. I actually had tears in my eyes. Why is it that after all those years it still hurts? I was sitting there looking at my beautiful soon to be 13 year old daughter and thinking how she could have had an older brother or sister. I was also definitely counting my blessings on having healthy and beautiful children.

Oh the heartaches of motherhood.

Terry Fox day

Today is the Terry Fox National School Run Day. All 3 of my kids are involved and I will be joining them later on today for a walk. Such a worthy cause raising funds for cancer research. Years ago, in a previous life it seems, I was part of such a research team, studying the fundamentals of cancer onset at the DNA level. It was such an intellectually stimulating and challenging period of my life, working side by side with some great minds and fun-loving people.

Thankfully up until now, cancer hasn't permeated our extended family. I pray it will remain that way.

As for Terry Fox, what a hero, in the true sense of the term. The Marathon of Hope, 1980. I so vividly remember following his day to day progress while preparing to enter my first year of university starting an undergraduate program in microbiology and immunology eventually leading me towards the aforementioned cancer research. Terry's spirit may have very well, in some small way, led me there.

But what is truly amazing, is how his dream is still living and strongly at that.

art attack part 2

As part of the year end frenzy,I found myself organizing some special artsy surprise gifts for some very special teachers at my kids' preschool.

First off, we got all the graduating kids to meet outside of school and create this most amazing piece as a thank-you to the school director whose vigilant and loving direction helped our kids grow and blossom over the past 3 years. The kids had a blast doing this and were very good at keeping it a secret up until the final reveal! It is already prominently displayed on one of the school's walls.

One of our teachers was leaving for good this year, going on to open a similar school in another part of the country. As a special parting gift, I collected money from all the parents and commissioned this beautiful piece from a very special lady whose art I absolutely love. What a perfect scene for a preschool teacher. She was so thrilled with it and will cherish it for years to come.

This kind of gift giving is so good for the soul.

art attack part 1

We are in the middle of year end frenzy. Tons of activities, outings and celebrations, organizing schedules and things to bring that has my head twirling. So yesterday morning I had a time out. I took 3 hours for myself. A clandestine meeting with an old love.

I went here

It was wonderful. By myself. Going along from painting to painting with an audioguide and enough time to read every little thing. Surrounded by artsy people, quietly and reverently observing another period in time. It was a little time travel from the everyday humdrum of a SAHM. I love how these work of art portray people having fun, in tune with nature surrounding them. I especially love how Renoir depicts flowers and rivers and landscapes with an abundance of colors and play of light. I love how it depicts a period of time in France, part of my heritage. I love how they remind me of where I live now: the architecture of our home, our river views, the nature around us. I love how the impressionists had the audacity to rebel against their current school of thought concerning art and brought it to an other level, a joyous colorful at times whimsical one as opposed to the more austere, formal versions. Basically, a lot of what they represent resonates so true with attributes of my personality: happiness, nature-lover, simplicity, love of color, poetic love of my homeland.

My love affair with the impressionists has been going on for a long time. Since my preteens for sure when I once took a book out of a library and fell in love with them all. Over the years, I have seen so many of them in Paris, Washington, Boston, Toronto, Montreal. Reproductions adorn some walls at home and I always had a few in my office way back when. This collection had few old favorites I had seen elsewhere so it was like meeting some old friends. A re acquaintance with an old love.

career paths

The funk is dissipating. Thanks for your kind comments, especially kate5kiwis "i think it's a good thing to listen to our body and have a day-or-two retreat at the beginning of our monthly cycle. good for you having a wee nap, i usually do on day one or two." Wise words to keep in mind for next month!!!

Last night, big sis came home with an interesting homework. They had to go on this online site and answer a multitude of questions which would then direct them to a list of careers that would suit them. Each career had a job description, salary range, "interviews" with people in that field. Her top five were criminologist, music teacher, elementary/high school teacher, web designer and actress. Nothing really stood out much. Guess her interests are quite diverse right now and she really has no clue what to go into. What a great tool though to get these 12-13 year olds to start thinking about what they want to do with the rest of their lives. What a daunting task too. Some people just "know" early on where they are headed and can clearly see the path ahead of them. How admirable. Hubby was like that, knew what he wanted to be from a real early age, 6-7 years old. Yet so many others don't know or change their mind. Who knows where life will bring you. Happiness in what you do is key though at the end of it all.

So for fun, I did the test too. And guess what? My previous job came in as number 2!! Right after illustrator and before taxidermist, architectural technician, pharmacist and interior designer. But no where in that list of careers do they have "mom" ;)

in a funk

that's my mood today. Got no energy. Feeling apathetic. The rain ain't helping either. The kids have been nasty with each other and "mediator" has been my middle name lately. Add to that a dose of insomnia and bad cramps due to my monthly visit from Aunt Flo. I actually had a nap this morning, bad mommy, instead of tending to house chores. Shh, don't tell anyone, my mommy's guilt is heavy enough as it is. Late night last night too: waited for hubby to return from the hockey game, yes, that one, were the Sens lost, big sigh. And to make matters worse, my dad just called from the hospital. My mom was having her cataract surgery today and here I was thinking it was next week. Bad daughter that I am.

All right, this exhausted me, time for a coffee break...

a mommy's life

I keep trying to come up with some profound meaningful worth-your-while-to read kind of post, but my head is not there. Seems that my life lately is filled with simple mundane activities: juggling soccer schedules, birthday parties, year-end celebrations and outings, paying bills, organizing/coordinating summer activities, going to the gym, meeting girlfriends for coffee, etc. Plain old mommy stuff.

Seems everyday at breakfast, I find myself sitting down with my coffee and making a list of things to do for the day. An organized mind focused on tasks at hand make me a happy camper :)

Today's list: buy plants for vegetable gardens and flowers and plant all in afternoon, buy a few year end presents for school teachers, make fruit platter for tomorrow's Greek school celebration, attend two soccer games tonight, unpack big sis bag (came back from a two day school trip to Kingston), figuring out menu for supper.

Yep, not all that exciting. But that's my life. And quite happy with it actually.

a good day

That's what it was. Accomplished lots of little things AND got lots of good news.

Accomplishing lots of little things (too many of them so trivial to even list) means crossing off items on my ever-expanding and never-ending to-do list. How rewarding. So just for today, I'll dwell on what I did and not what I still need to do. Will worry about those things tomorrow ;)

Lots of good news means a good jolt of happy juice for the soul. That little baby boy is doing much better and they are talking about him returning home this coming week-end. Yeah!

After months of agonizing about which school to send the twins to next year, I finally reached THE decision. Was kinda forced into it, but sometimes that's a good thing. The deadline to order uniforms for one of the school choices was today. SO I dragged the twins there tonight after school. Their first time in their new school ever. The first person we ran into there was their current teacher, which immediately put them at ease. She was there to get uniforms for her two boys who go there as well. baby boy and baby girl were ever so patient and cooperative trying all sorts of garments to figure out sizes and helping me fianlize the order. And "Oh. My. God." how cute they were in those little uniforms!! Gave them a quick tour of the school and we all left happy, me mostly, finally having reached a state of peace of mind over this issue. And that is definitely good news.

Last, but definitely not least, the news that TWO of my bloggy friends (you know who you are) are pregnant. One big yaba-daba-doo ( a la Yogi bear).

Yep, all was well with my little world today.

And I just had to stop watching the Sens play, I had no more nails left to bite...

I did it!

I participated in my very first organized race at age 45! And I loved it. Actually, I could be hooked ;)

It was only a 5K walk/run but being at the start line with 6000 others, getting the encouragement of onlookers all along the route and the thrill of crossing that finish line was phenomenal and invigorating. I went with two other ladies, a decade or more younger than I. We started off running and then had to stop as one of them got a cramp in her chin, I stopped as well and made sure she stretched and walked gently till she felt better enough to go on. I encouraged them along and said we were doing this together and we were going to finish this together. So it wasn't my personal best time but that didn't matter. We had a blast. Especially the sprinting for the last 200 meters.

After the race, we went to a friends house to shower and change and headed to a surprise 40th b day party. Two coolers later, I was feeling no pain and was quite happy ;)

head and toes

head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes, knees and toes...
(sorry, had that silly song in my head)

Yesterday I took care of some of my body parts: head and toes actually.

In view of my upcoming trip to warmer climes, I indulged myself by booking a pedicure in order to convert my toes from the dried up winter look to a softer well-manicured summer look including a smashing blood red color for the toesies.

Now, I'm a stickler for details when I go to spa-like places. I mean, its all in the atmosphere right. that's what you're paying for. So this place is beautiful. Beautiful chairs with a sunk-in foot bath complete with massaging jets. The place smells good, essential. The lighting is nice and soothing. The girl pleasant enough (although i ended up with Rebbecca instead of Nelly, wonder whatever happened to Nelly, but anyways whatever). So my feet are happily soaking away and I'd love to get a back massage from that fancy chair while I'm at it. Press all the buttons doesn't work. Tell the girl who replies: "oh I'll get someone to look at that". So I wait. And I wait. I'm one of the quiet non-complaining ones at places like this. A while later, I mention it again: "no problem, someone is on their way". Yeah right, no one ever came. So then she leaves me there with paraffin on my feet and no massaging chair, oh well, I'll just sit back and have a snooze. I'm the only one in the place. I close my eyes and try not to think of the million things I have to do. Relax, I coerce myself. But I'm sitting next to the employees lunchroom-restroom I take it. And I can hear them coming in and out, in and out, laughing and giggling, even as bold as slamming the door. I just wanted to yell: DOn't you know its a spa here!" Ok, sit back, relax, let's concentrate on that new agey music they always play in these places. So I'm listening to it, but I also hear a rock and rolly upbeat sounds emanating from just beyond another wall, where the hair salon is. Cripes.

Anyways, all in all it was still OK and my toes do look yummy.

So while there, I figured I'd get my roots looked after. Yes, those darn white hair where showing through and there's no way I was leaving looking like that. Part of me thought of doing it at home myself but I figured, what the heck, since I'm there already lets go for the total indulgence. So my usual hairdresser (well I've only really seen her 3 times) wasn't there so I got someone else. Nice enough girl it seemed. She looked up the notes of hairdresser #1 to determined the color to use (as I went much browner the last time there). She puts the goop on. I sit there sipping a tea and getting updated on celebrities lives. Rinse it off, she goes extra slow, gives me an non-ending scalp massage. Nice. But then my radar goes up. Something is wrong. I can feel it. She's stalling for time. I can be quite intuitive that way.

Back to the chair, yep, I can see why. I no longer have roots, I have RED roots. VIOLET-RED hair. I'm trying not to cry. She's mumbling away hairdresser jargon, whatever, just fix it. So she put on some toner, left that on, and pretty much rectified it. I was in there a whole lot longer than anticipated. And I had planned to do so many other things. Rats.

But man, I'm so unlucky with hairdressers. Like the time as a teenager in the 70's when perms where all the rage. Went and had one done and my hair got fried, really fried, had to cut it off. Or this other time my hair turned green. When I moved to Ottawa, found this nice girl Tracey, followed her from salon to salon (6 in all), man these hairdressers love to move around...lots of "office politics" I guess. She eventually gave me a phone call saying she was no longer working. Bummer. Then hooked up with this effeminate Lebanese guy. Stayed with him for a few years. But he stopped listening to me. I'd go in wanting something and always left with puffy hair with lots of hairspray. Would end up going home and washing my hair. For a while, I did the home thing. The fight with the grey hair became more vicious. I did my own color for years and even went as far as cutting it myself. While pregnant, I even resorted to natural hair products. All worked well but hair was dull. I was longing to have hair like the movie stars in magazines. Then found this nice Portuguese guy who had been at his salon for 20 years or so. Phew, a stable one. Haircuts were great, got bold, went for highlights. Then went for root touch-ups. Another nightmare appointment, was there for 4 hours, urghh.

What is it with me, do I have bad hair karma? Is it our well water that does weird things? Is it my hormones/body composition? I'm generally pretty easy going with my hair, like whatever, it grows back is my philosophy. But when I pay for a service (and service industry was my livelihood when working) I expect the best treatment all around. I just want to find someone who knows what they're doing and blindly going there and getting things done. Is that too much to ask?

joe update

Session #5 with joe. Each one so far has had a "theme" along with questions to get thought processes going. Today's theme: life style health habits...didn't fare too bad there too...write down goals (done), keep a daily journal (guess this blog counts), eat frequent smaller meals (working on that), strength train 3x/wk (more often than not), plan meals ahead (as much as I can), create a workout schedule (most of the time), sleep 8 hours a day (most nights).

Last week wasn't that great, 3 days with NO exercise and it actually bothered me and going out and having pizza and beer one night didn't help either.

My workout session wasn't that great today either. Somehow, I wasn't as strong as I usually am. P*ssed me off a tad. One week of not doing as much was a step back. He said it happens to everyone, we'll have weaker days than others. What will 2 weeks of being away to Florida do? Of course I will try to walk and bike and swim and maybe go to a gym as much as I can and consciously eat healthy, but it is a holiday after all .

And the slow progress of this all. I'm seeing this long road ahead of me and feeling a little discouraged today. A whole month of working at it, exercising, eating healthy, reading health books, putting it all on the forefront of my consciousness and that da*n scale barely moved. Da*mit. I lost weight faster with WW. Combine that to the fact that I was aiming this whole fitness routine to our Florida departure and here I am a few days away and not that much further ahead as when I started it seems.

All right, snap out of it. At least I'm doing something. Its GOT to be better than not doing anything at all. There's got to be internal changes I'm not seeing.

And now, gotta get into the packing mode. I LOVE traveling but I HATE packing. How to pick which shoes to bring, which clothes, is it too much, is it not enough. AND I have to worry about myself and 3 other human beings...hubby only worries about himself ;) All right, off to try my bathing suits and shorts, urghhhh.

tgif

Fierce snowstorm outside, tons of boring income tax paperwork to do today, really bad menstrual cramps, just want to curl up in a ball with my favorite pj's and a good book...but I have to think about getting supper ready soon, gotta go pick up the twins at preschool, bring big sis to badminton later and buy two birthday presents from the twins for yet another b day party they are going to tomorrow. So I thought I'd take a break and do something fun thanks dani and loukia)...most probably my mood today made me into Bert! Thank God my hair doesn't look like that, but then again, not that much better today...a really bad hair day :(

You Are Bert




Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you lovable - even if you don't love them!

You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you

You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil

How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

body and soul

Last night, after dropping off the twins at yet another Cosmic Adventures' birthday party, I headed with big sis to The Scotia bank Place for an evening of music. Her godmother got us two tickets. So we joined her and a few other people we know in a booth. We went to see Josh Groban. Now, I have to admit, I had never heard of him before. So what an awesome pleasant surprise it was. He's wonderful to look at and his voice is purely magical. Great songs in Spanish, Italian, English and even one in French. Great that I actually understand all those languages;) It was an evening great for the soul.

And now for the body. I just came back from the gym. Session #4 with Joe. Nutrition discussion today. I also asked him to remeasure me cause I wanted/needed some tangible results to keep me going. Sure I feel stronger, I'm lifting more and more wights and feel generally better.

So here is where I'm at, after 3.5 weeks of my new commitment to improved fitness: lost 3 pounds, lost 2% body fat and lost 5 inches overall. Small baby steps, but surely steps in the right direction.

Body and soul. Both in a good place today. And that's a good thing.

meet joe

The new man in my life. Not a chance encounter yet we were put together at random. I will be meeting him at least twice a week over the next few weeks. So far so good. We seem to get along and he seems to know what he's doing. He's already motivated me a whole extra level and made me consider new things.

Joe is my personal trainer. Yep. I finally have one. One of my life goals reached. Never too late to fulfill a dream! I've never been super athletic but generally strong. But at this point in my life, I want to get serious about getting as fit as I can. I met with trainers here and there over the years. But this is different. Hubby got me a 12 session package with him. Two down already.

So for the past two weeks, I've been going to my new gym and enjoying it. More than I thought. I was doing my own thing and already feeling stronger.

Session One with Joe:
Review of my goals, measurement of resting blood pressure and heart rate. Discussion of my training heart rate. And now that I have a heart rate monitor watch, I've come to realize that I don't always bring my heart rate high enough while exercising. Something to work on. This chit-chat followed by some weight training and a grueling session on the stair master (which I would have gotten off of if he wasn't right next to me!).

Session Two with Joe: After the usual cardio and weight training component, he had me step on a machine to analyze my body composition. Now THIS was a wake-up call. My %body fat is high (no surprise there) but when he quantified that by saying I was carrying 76, yes seventy-six, pouinds of fat, I was in total shock. Those values put me in the "obese" category. Yikes!!! Not enough muscle mass, too much fat mass. Got my work cut out here.

So one day at a time, that's all I can do.

The key to success is patience and persistence.

a week in retrospective

Kids are finally in bed. I survived yet another 4 days with hubby out of town. He should be arriving something around midnight later on tonight. He didn't really feel like going and said he won't be going again for a while. He was missing his family before he was even gone. And the kids were all missing him too, moreso than previous trips.

This was week #1 on my new road: seriously and powerfully committed in reaching a healthier level for myself. The new gym I joined finally opened its doors and I'm really loving it. I'm finally doing what I've been wanting to do since the twins started school. I think the group atmosphere is working for me now. Tired of doing things alone at home I guess. I'm patting myself on the back for actually making it there a total of 5 times this past week! Two sessions of Bodypump (a cardio-weight training group workout with great loud music), two sessions of weight training (one being an initial session with a trainer which was awesome, looking forward to the next ones and seeing my strength improve, been) and one hour of yoga which I really, really loved. Add to that 2 hours on the canal last Sunday and one hour toboganning and one hour skating in our backyard today and I've pretty much did some form of exercise daily. And it was actually fun! I am not doing this solely for weight loss (although I do hope all this effort will result in that eventually) but mostly in keeping my body strong, firm and flexible.

Of course, exercise is just one factor in the big equation. Diet is key too. And not diet in the context of a quick fix starve myself diet, but more of a mind-set where I make a conscious effort daily in eating healthy and in moderate amounts. And of course, the whole family benefits too. Not that we were ever that far from healthy eating so its really just some fine-tuning. This past week was pretty great in this area too. Strayed a bit off course when I went to Pizza Hut with the kids and another husband-out-of town mom and her 3 kids for supper one night and I had a beer but managed to have only one piece of pizza and loads of salad. And today I had a few Timbits when we went to a local arena to watch a friend's 8 year old play hockey ;)

On other news, my dad went to the hospital for a little dermatological procedure, again. He had this lesion on his ear and after tons of prompting and persuasion had it checked and it turned out to be squamous cell carcinoma. He had it excised two years ago and it came back. So off he went to get it removed again. He had the same thing on his leg a few years back. And this a man who has worked indoors all his life. Makes you think twice about the merit of sunscreen, which he hasn't used regularly, and more personally makes me wonder if I'll be predisposed to those types of lesions myself. For a 10 minute procedure done under local in a regular exam room, he was at the hospital for a total of 6 hours. He had been there waiting for 4 hours already when this other patient arrived: obviously a prisoner, with shackles and accompanied by 3 guards...he didn't have to wait, they brought him in right away...in and out in half an hour flat...and he didn't have to pay for parking either...my dad was ticked, especially since we had just finished talking about this story which I won't even comment on cause I don't have anything nice to say about it.

And big sis has simply been the best these past few days. No talking back, being responsible for herself and EVEN picking up her room with very little prompting. The twins went to a birthday party at the local YMCA last Saturday and she asked to go along with them. The birthday mom didn't mind the extra pair of hands with 10 5-6 year olds. And I got TWO full hours to myself (went shopping and got myself something for a change and went to the gym too). She did great there. She definitely has a natural knack to taking care of younger kids. She showed that ability again today when we babysat my godchild, the cutest 2 year old. She had all sorts of games and activities lined up for him and the twins. I was mostly relegated to the background preparing meals, cleaning up and managed to do all my laundry too!

Add to all that, mom's taxi service tos chool and back, dance lessons, badminton, greek school, gymnastics and a long overdue date with a friend for tea one evening (divorced, remarried, long story) and a parent teacher night another evening...so no wonder blogging took the back burner.

But I'm all set for another week :)

taking care of me

That's what the last 2 days have been about. And the guilt, the guilt, that darn mother's guilt. Why is it its so much easier to take care of others than of oneself.

Thursday:
Left the house while my cleaning ladies, my beloved cleaning ladies did their magic. I had one when the twins were little but then she retired when they were around 2 yrs old. And then I figured, no problem, I can do it now, all of it, I'm supermom. Not. A few months back, a friend told me that her cleaning crew had an opening. Didn't take long to jump on that offer.

So while the toilet bowls and floors were getting scrubbed, I went to get my pearly whites looked after. Even got a little bleaching kit to brighten up the smile :) Followed by a little solo shopping (ended up getting valentine's day stuff for the kids) and lunch with a great book. Then off to the hairdresser for 2 hours of pampering. New color and highlights. Then off to my new gym. Joined a while back but it officially opened now. Got the grand tour. And a first workout. And made an appointment with a trainer for my inital evaluation next week. Got the ball rolling, finally!

Friday:
A continuing education course. With hubby. Have to keep my hours up in order to maintain my provincial license. It turned out to be totally unexpectedly awesome. An invigorating, stimulating and motivating day taking about health and fitness. I acquired so many pearls of wisdom. A lot I knew already: eat healthy, drink water, exercise regularly,etc. But the speakers didn't address so much what we need to do to lead a healthier lifestyle, the intellectual side of us already knows all that stuff. It was more a search of our deep inner selves to find out what would motivate us to do those things. Find out our powerful reasons. Make a dream list of our future and visualize it. Very powerful stuff.

They spoke of the things people need to achieve these results: a log of what we eat and the exercises we do, drinking lots of water, eliminating junk food from our houses, having people around us who will support us, having people whose achievements are inspirational to us, getting a personal trainer or even better taking a personal training course, cutting down caffeine consumption, not eating 2 hours before bedtime, sleeping enough every night, taking time daily for ourselves (meditation, quiet reading), getting regular massages, yoga, and even journalling ! As in blogging! Apparently spending the time to write down our thoughts is part of the road to a better, happier and healthier lifestyle.

Cool!

So here's my top two powerful reasons to bring my health and wellness to the next level:

#1---be a role model to my children
#2--becoming an active older adult enjoying life and children

Let's just keep the momentum going!

tired ole' mom

It creeps up on you slowly. The aging thing. For quite a while you feel the same. And then, bang, one day you feel old, older. There's the usual signs: the white hair, the sagging bits, the jiggly bits, the most annoying failing eyesight , the slowed down metabolism making you gain weight just looking at food. And now a few new ones that are really pissing me off: hard time getting up from the floor when playing with kids, aching joints which I've NEVER had, sore back from tying 3 pairs of skates and just plain lack of energy. Seems like I've reached this new physical era in my life. some of it is out of my control and some I really need to get control over.

All right, I know, its also the fact that this whole Holiday fun leaves one with a digestive system out of whack due to too many indulgences and a body so out of shape from lack of exercise and too many days spent with kids who really need to go back to school and crazy hours going to bed and getting up. And clothes that feel too tight, arghh.

Bottom line, I want my routine back. I want my house back, to myself. I need to get rid of ALL the stuff lying around. I need to get back on my treadmill. Hey I even got the whole first season of Lost, which I've never seen, and plan to watch one episode each time I go run/walk.

One more day