Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Recently Heard

The other day
Me: So Noelle, how was your day, who did you play with?
Noelle: Welllll, Parker kept asking me to play with him. I think he's in love with me or something....

Could be.

This weekend
(with my sister, I pulled my bangs back to reveal my forehead...)
Me: Bethie what should I get for this?
Bethie: The brown spots? Or the wrinkles?
Me: Neither, I was talking about the zit....

Yesterday
Lorelei: Mom, do you think other people kind of might not understand our family?
Me: Umm, what do you mean?
Lorelei: Like do you think that they might not understand some of the things we do?
Me: I don't really know what you're talking about, do you think we're weird or something?
Lorelei: Yeah, kind of.


So there you have it folks, I have one daughter who thinks everyone's in love with her (which actually may be true). I apparently have skin that is rapidly aging and needs tending to, thanks for that ego boost Bethie. And my oldest daughter thinks our whole family is weird. I didn't think she'd figure that one out for at least another couple of years!



Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Gym & I

When I say I had anxiety about joining a gym, I'm not exaggerating. I literally had nightmares 3 nights in a row. Walking in there, I automatically feel soooo stupid, like everyone around me knows I'm a total poser. Even though my tennis shoes look brand new, they're actually 3 years old. Here are 5 reasons to feel good about yourselves, and further evidences that you're probably in better shape than I am.

5. The expression most often escaping my trainer's lips is..... "Wait, it looks like I'd better lighten up this machine for you, a little less weight may be more manageable for you. (As my arms and legs twitch against my will, I smile nervously, no, really, I'm fine).

4. At one point she had me lifting 2.5 lb free weights, and I could barely manage them.

3. The old people at the gym run faster than me and lift more weights than I do. And when I say old, I'm talking oxygen tubes are coming out of their noses (no lie).

2. After 4 trips to the gym, today was my record of time on the elliptical machine: 11 minutes... thank you.

1. I didn't understand that to get the elliptical machine started, you had to begin pedaling, and then once I started, I was going so slowly, the machine actually began flashing the word PAUSE in red. One person commented they didn't even know that was possible. Wow, I'm awesome.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Old Dog, New Tricks?

Imagine for a moment your greatest fear.... is it public speaking? Climbing treacherous heights? Re-taking geometry? For me, all fear revolves around anything athletic, anything that involves running, catching, straining your muscles, or perhaps even sweating. Part of this of course, stems from years of humiliation during the P.E. classes the state forced upon me as part of my "education," part of this can be attributed to my extreme lack of physical coordination, and then there is the factor that the muscles most people have seem to be missing in my own personage. I'm the scrawny-shouldered kid that was always picked last, and who, now over-compensates for her insecurity with sarcasm and disdain for all things healthy.

And so it was with great fear & trepidation, that I stepped foot in to a gym this week. And not only did I attempt to "work out," but I actually paid money to become a member there. Was it a sudden lapse in my sanity? A pre-mature mid-life crisis? Or simply the desire to wear a bathing suit again without having to worry about nauseating the people around me?

I'm going to go with the latter one. When the overseer of the gym asked me if I was here to "get healthy," I said, "oh, dear heavens no, this is just a vain thing...you know, I want to look good." Apparently she'd never heard that response before, which leads me to believe, other people are lying about their motives to exercise. But that's besides the point.

Ultimately, the point of this blog is simply to state that a miracle has occurred, I went to a gym 3 times this week and worked out with a trainer each time. If you actually know me, you'd realize this is indeed miraculous. My sister who's always dreaded the idea of attention, said it would be the equivalent of her signing up for acting classes. I almost expected the earth to shift, and Obama to release a press conference saying he wanted less government involvement in our health care system, or for Oprah to admit she's not omniscient, or maybe for a Christian character to be portrayed on television in a positive light..... but of course none of those things happened.

I did, however, break a sweat today. And it's going to take a whole separate blog post to recount to you how incredibly awkward this whole experience has been. So if you're not laughing now at my irony, you will perhaps be laughing later... at my expense.


Thursday, March 10, 2011

This Week's Clouds & Silver Linings

Cloudy: Gas Prices.... nothing more annoying then filling up a minivan I don't really enjoy with gas that costs more than the really expensive shoes I was coveting in a magazine the other day.

Silver Lining: Libya may affect how much it costs me to fill up my tank, but yay for me, I don't live there.

Cloudy: My teacher duties include sending home progress reports to frustrated parents this time of year, and my students look longingly at the sun shining outside their classroom windows, and I'm pretty sure that all of my winsome charm has worn off, and they're sick of me.

Silver Lining: I still get paid, and because I'm an English teacher, I recognize that the statement above is indeed a run-on sentence.

Cloudy: I'm tired.

Silver Lining: Coffee.