My dream

Much like MLK Jr., I have a dream. My dream is that Allison get the boot on American Idol. Sooooo close to going last night, but noooooo. I will need to endure one more week of her marbles-in-the-mouth singing and looking at her bad dye job. She has seriously got. to. go. Okay, enough about her. This post is about the REAL dream that I had two nights ago. I had a dream that I was at the gym and right before I was set to work out someone gave me a ginormous burrito. I started eating it, and before I knew it the entire thing was gone. Because I had just scarfed down such a honkin' big meal, I decided not to work out thinking, "what's the point"? This dream just cracked me up in its ability to relay my real life. Other than the fact that I wouldn't eat a huge burrito...at the gym...it was pretty much spot on in terms of my thinking since I stopped my water aerobics this week out of discouragement. i LOVE water aerobics, i just don't love my lack of discipline in other areas so that the water aerobics pays off. I am working out SO hard, and then blowing it with my senseless fill-my-piehole eating. ugh. I watch the Biggest Loser contestants weigh in and think, "oh, I'd love to have lost 4 pounds this week" as I lick the soft vanilla ice cream from the edges of my ice cream sandwich. I look at their toned bodies and want MY arms to be sculpted, but it doesn't seem to be happening with my daily exercise of opening and closing the mailbox. (insert ashamed face here). With my water aerobics I was seeing physical improvements (and am resuming on Monday) so I still have hope. The sun will come out tomorrow and so will my biceps.

Turning 50

I had one of the most blessed birthdays last week because of the richness of blessings I received from my family and friends. YOU are gifts in my life and I hope that you know how much you mean to me. On top of that I received some of the most beautiful and heartfelt presents. I hereby acknowledge the following awards:

Best Humanitarian Award...to Nicki McKee for her generous gift to WithChild in honor of me (and all the other great gifts, too).

Thanks for Making Me Cry (twice) Award...to Cheryl for her special coffee cup and beautiful note to me.

Thanks for Making Me Laugh/Most Original Award...to Marie for writing out "50 Things That Make Me Smile About You". One of the best gifts I've ever received.

You Fill Me Up/Oh My Gosh Award...to Sandra, for the yummy lunch, special picture and great conversation.

Most Artistic Award...to Jana and Sasha for the pretty handmade cards!

Biggest Surprise Award...to Kim for the gorgeous (and unexpected) flowers.

Best 'ahhhhhhh' Award...to Sophia, Hayden, Tiff & Doug for the colorful bouquet. So pretty!

Most Thoughtful Co-worker Award...to Kim, Elida & Regina for all they did (which was alot)!

Way to Get Me Excited Award...to Mom, Dad & Nancy for the gift card.

Looking Forward to Using it Award...to Don for the spa gift.

You Deeply Moved Me Award...to John, for his handmade card with special words to me. I will cherish it forever.

You Bring Me Joy Award...to Mariah, for her original poem about turning 50 and her handmade picture posters of the two of us. I will cherish these forever as well.

I love you all.

Prom 2009

I admit to feeling quite choked up at the idea of our children heading off to prom. Gosh, the time has flown. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was feeding John Gerber peas and watching Mariah drink from her, 'baba'. Now, John rarely eats peas and Mariah only drinks milk with her cereal. I have a lifetime of precious memories raising up these two lambs. They have my heart.

Here's a group shot of John, with his date Andrea; and Mariah, with her date Clark. Mariah doesn't officially start dating until her sixteenth birthday in May, but we bent the rules a bit...and it was a first date to remember.

...the whole gang...

(More pictures on facebook)

Wettin' with the Oldies

Everyone knows who Richard Simmons is. That goof with the curly hair and striped, tight gym shorts. He's well known for his video, "Sweatin' to the Oldies", which I promise I have never watched. (I did buy his deal-a-meal years ago, but realized it wouldn't work for me when I got a burrito at Taco Bell and found that most of my day's allotment was almost gone). Anyway...I recently joined a gym so I could do water aerobics, which I love. The classes I have done so far have been a great workout, but I can't get over how old the participants are. I'm going to be 50 in a week, and they have many, many years (if not decades) on me. I'm looking around and thinking, "if these are the people in the level II/III class, who the heck is in the 'Rusty Hinges' class???" I'm not kidding...they actually have a class called 'Rusty Hinges'...which I find gut-splitting hysterical. I'm wondering if something is wrong with me though. I was looking at all of these people and thinking about the fact that I was sweating (did you know you can sweat in a pool?) Then, I started thinking, "If I'm sweating...they are probably sweating", which grossed me out. Then my mind went a step further and started looking at their bathing suits, feeling grateful when I saw that they were clinging tightly to their old bodies and that none of them were loose fitting where stray things could fall out. Yeah, I know...the thought disturbed me too. Sorry. (This post is anonymous, right? Okay, good). Hey, that's what I get for having an hour to do nothing but workout and think!