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Archive of ‘Family’ category

Lots going on! 30 Day Shred, Hypnotherapy, Puppy Answers & More

I have been MIA this week, but I’ve been mucho busies (that means very busy in the language my brother and I created — our language is actually quite brilliant. more on that another time). So, here are some updates in the life that is mine:

(1) I’ve joined Caitlin — and about 40 other bloggers and readers — on her 30 Day Shred Challenge! I don’t plan to do this every single day like Caitlin does, but I would like to aim for 4 days a week. I spent a lot of time debating whether to get 2 lb or 3 lb hand weights. I am a very weak person. No strength at all — which of course is why I am doing the challenge in the first place. The boy settled my internal debate by definitively telling me to get 2 lb weights. So I will head to Modell’s to pick up some 2 lb weights and a mat.

30 Day Shred

I brought my DVD player to the boy’s since he doesn’t have one and I don’t have floor space in my own apartment. I need to figure out how to hook it up to his TV.

I plan to begin the challenge this weekend. I am nervous because I tend to not do eksusize that hurts. I also have a short attention span when it comes to videos, but I read so many positive things about the 30 Day Shred that I am willing to give it a shot. Let’s see if I actually stick with it… I figure if I write about it here I will feel more pressure to! A big thank you to Caitlin for keeping us all motivated with the Shredder Support Newsletter! It definitely helps my motivation to have a network of people in this with me.

(2) I decided to participate in the hypnotherapy program for GI problems and it begins on Monday, March 30. I am excited — and will be sure to report on it here! It will be every other Monday for 14 weeks. My time slot is 7:15 pm, which means I will have a gap of time between work and therapy. Ideally, I would like to go to the gym during this time and get in a workout. If I don’t, knowing me (and I know me quite well), I will shop and spend money I shouldn’t be spending.

There are some problems with this plan. I will list these problems now, and then I will describe my hopeful solution.

 – I am not allowed to join the gym in the building in which I work for reasons I won’t explain here
 – My gym does not have locations near my work or the psychologist’s office
 – I do not have enough time to get to my own gym, work out and get to the psychologist’s office

Hopeful Solution: I looked into getting free guest passes to a few gyms in the area of the psych’s office, but I think it will be annoying and I don’t like having to learn where things are, having to take a tour and listening to sales talks. I’d rather just find one that I can go to 7 times and be done. There is a pay-as-you-go gym in the city(http://www.monqifitness.com/), but it’s not near this office. There are also spin studios (like SoulCycle where I am finally planning to visit next weekend!), also not near this office.

I do know that NYSC charges a $15 guest pass, and there is one of these a block away from the psych. I need to find out if I would be allowed to do this 7 times, without accompanying a club member. 6 times really, since I have one free guest pass. If so, I will be quite pleased with the arrangement!

(3) Thanks to those who asked to be interviewed! They all gave such fantastic answers, I am so impressed! You can read their wonderful answers here:

 -  Santana, a real puppy 

-  Mallory

-  Sara

(4) The maternity pants arrived and while they feel wonderful on top, I don’t like how the legs look. Returning them. I need to keep looking for pants for work though. On the non-work clothes front, I discovered jeans like this and got so excited! If I get just one really good pair of maternity jeans, maybe I can be a semi-social human being again! Maybe I can actually make plans to go somewhere knowing I have something I can wear. Maybe when the day of an event comes up I won’t be feeling stressed and anxious about getting dressed. Maybe I can go out to a meal. Maybe I can not wear sweats at times I feel like they seem inappropriate. Maybe maybe maybe.

I went to Bloomingdale’s to try some on, since I saw a bunch on their website. When I got there, I was informed that they don’t sell them in the store because, and I quote, “Pregnant people only like to buy their clothes online.” Uhhhh… really, Bloomindales customer service associate who works on the main floor of the flagship location? Because I don’t know if you’ve ever purchased, um, jeans before. But you kinda need to try them on. There are countless styles, as you can see  from the Nordtrom’s link above, in addition to varying sizes that change from brand to brand and style to style.

The always amazing Sara told me about a store in her hood where she’s seen the type of clothes I’d want: Belly Dance Maternity. I think I will need to take a little detour to this area one day in the not-too-distant future. I am dying to try on some maternity jeans to fit my bloated belly! This all sounds so ridiculous when I read back on it — my quest for pregnancy clothes. But I am intrigured – and it could be something really great for me.

(5) I am very excited about the upcoming NYC Blogger Meetups! I will be attending both the dinner on the 14th and the brunch on the 22nd — the menus for both places look wonderful. Of course I will recount my experiences on here after. Thanks again to Melissa for organizing these!

(6) I have been bad. I haven’t moved on to the next vegetable on my list. I will this weekend and report back next week. Pinky swear.

Pinky Swear

Speaking of pinky swear, I have crooked pinkies. The rest of my fingers are normal. I actually have pretty nice hands. Except for my deviant pinkies. I apologize for my ugly nails. I have been talking about getting a manicure for about 3 months now. Maybe this weekend I will actually do it!

pinky

(7) I don’t know if I will get to make the Maple Glazed Pumpkin French Toast this weekend after all. Things got busy! Sads.

(8) I plan to write a post at some point devoted to the language my brother and I have with each other. Maybe even write an entire entry in this language. It is crazies!! Until then I will include a sprinkle of it here and there.

(9) Simba has been out of control.  The hyena laughing has been intense. Last week there was a day with a lot of snow, so the office was empty. As I’ve mentioned, these are the days Simba is at his absolute worst. The howling, the strange sounds, the screaming, the repitition on that day were unbearable. Of course, he is out of control and irritating and incites anger and hatred in me every day.

How does no one reprimand him???

***Random memory alert! Random memory alert!***
Mallory baked me banana bread for my birthday 2 years ago. I went to the post office to pick up the box, and had the box opened and the bread in my mouth before I even got to my apartment. People on the street must have thought it was SO strange to see a girl shoving bread into her mouth from a shipping box.

(10) I love my doll Nicole. I thought it would be fun to find another of her, from 1985, and get it. I searched the internets far and wide. I emailed Playmates, the company that produced her. I begged them to search their warehouse for a doll from 1985 who wears a blue dress, has blue eyes and cries when you shake her. No such luck. My Nicole stopped crying many years ago, after being shaken roughly by my two older, male cousins.

Finally, I thought I found the closest thing to her on eBay — her black counterpart! The description said she cries when shook (uhh I don’t think ANY doll company could get away with that feature these days), I recognized the hair (drawn on lines in a very particular pattern) in the photograph, she was born the same year, same brand — it’s her!

So I ordered it! I was in class (grad school - I was, like, 22 when this happened) when she arrived and my brother sent me a hilarious text saying that the doll is not quite what we imagined. I asked him what he means…. and he sent me this picture.

Nicoles

She is a giant! What is funny is that they were definitely from the same batch. Their similarities are apparent. They have a lot of the same features and structure — but why is the new one so big!

Poor new doll remains abandoned in my old bedroom at my mom’s. I adopted her and because she wasn’t what I expected, I abandoned her.

Have a great weekend, all! AND a very Happy Henry Day this Sunday!

Getting back into eksusize mode

When my brother was in second grade, he had to keep a journal for school. It was one of those composition books. I had the same assignment when I was in second grade (my composition blook was neon orange) and it is hilarious to compare our writing.

My journal entries were legible, well written and some were quite long. My brother’s, in the other hand, were an adorable mess of handwriting and spelling and mush. One of our favorite entries in his journal (writing from memory, since it is at my mom’s apartment and I don’t have access to it at the moment) is one where he wrote that one of his favorite activities is to “eksusize with my sister.”

This is hilarious on so many levels. First, eksusize! How sweet is this spelling! Next, when my brother was in second grade, I was in fourth. When did we ever exercise together??! And if we did, WHAT DID WE DO! I’d love to know, since he clearly enjoyed it so much. Other levels of hilarity include his handwriting, the messiness of his writing, the adorableness of his words and attempts, and of course the comparison to my writing at the same age. Now he is much smarter than I am. Back then, not so much.

So whenever we talk about exercising with each other, we now say eksusize. Both written and verbally. Say it out loud: EK-SU-SIZE. Fun times.

Children's Eksusize

Also, when we talk about the gym, we pronounce it gime. Look up the Simpson’s clip on YouTube and you’ll understand. It provides endless entertainment for me. Every now and then during out conversation about the gym, I will say “Gime? What’s a gime? OHHHHH, a gime!” I never get sick of saying gime, even though my brother does.

As you know, I was out of commission this past weekend with a cold. Not only was it my first cold in forever, but it was so much worse than I remember any cold being. My entire face was burning and stinging with pain, particularly my gums. I felt so awful and it is good timing that it was bad over the weekend because there is no way I would have been able to go to work the way I was. And I’ve never missed work because of a cold before. This one really knocked me out.

I stayed in bed and ate chocolate pudding and PinkBerry. Yum. On Sunday, I felt a little more like real food, and had a flashback to when I was very young and would go to my neighbor’s apartment when I had to stay home from school sick and my mother had to work. I loved going there because they had sugar cereals, which I was never allowed to have in my own home except on my birthday and Hanukkah. Keeping in tradition, I was craving a delicious cereal for my sickbead. There is one that is fairly new and I have always wanted to try, and decided this would be the perfect time – Chocolate Lucky Charms. You heard me. The part of Lucky Charms that tastes bad (to kids) NOW TASTES GREAT! I ate a few delicious bowls and then threw the rest away since eating an entire box would not be good! I’m glad I got to try it and it was so worth it.

By Monday I was fine to go to work. I wanted to take things easy and make sure this cold doesn’t come back, but I also wanted to get my body moving a little, so I did a workout a la Heather. She hurt her hamstring and to take it easy, has been doing 60 minutes of recumbent bike with no resistance. I thought that sounded like the most boring thing I ever heard, but also the perfect exercise to do while recovering from a cold — especially since I am in the middle of reading American Wife and cannot put it down, so I figured it would make the time pass easily.

After 40 minutes my legs were just bored, so I went on the treadmill and walked for 10 and then it was almost time for the new episode of House so I considered myself finished. Pretty good considering I was bedridden the day before!

Today I am feeling even better and want to go back to spin. I was going almost every day (once I went twice in a day!) before Seattle, and then during my trip I had 4 days of no eksusize at all. When I got back I went to spin once but didn’t feel great there and the next day I came down with the cold from hell. So it has been awhile since I really had a good workout. Tonight I will go to spin but I will take it easy. I will start it off slow to get an idea of how I am feeling, and I won’t be pushing myself too hard. I want to slowly get back into it without risking getting sick again.

Eksusize Cartoon

Tomorrow I have my appointment with the nutritionist at my GI doctor’s office. I am looking forward to talking to her about my problems and my concerns and hear what she thinks — and hopefully learn more about what I can eat. I have been craving oatmeal lately. I love the texture and the taste and the smell and everything about it, but it is one of the foods that makes me feel at my absolute worst. I want to tell the nutritionist this and see if she has any suggestions for incorporating it back into my life.

Important note to sick people: As much as I love Zicam Nasal Gel, I have to strongly urge you NOT to use it while you have a cold. It stings. Intensely. And worse, the sting lasts for HOURS. Not fun times. But I strongly encourage using it if you feel the start of a cold coming on, or your cold is newly finished.

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