Completely derailed

Okay, so I should really start blogging about upcoming things before they happen that way you know that when I disappear for a week at a time it's because my Dad has suddenly arrived in town and besides the whole stress of not really knowing what to expect on a visit because we very rarely spend time together, Asher is in our room and is very loud at night, and Dad is (unbeknownst to me) totally into the whole touristy thing and I've been run a bit ragged since Saturday and haven't even had the energy to keep my eyes open long enough to read blogs let alone write one of my own. It has been going surprisingly well, though, Asher absolutely adores his Grandpa (mind you, he never gets so much attention from his parents) but I am exhausted.   Dad leaves tomorrow morning and then I'm coming home to nap.  I'll catch up and post comments soon and be back with you all by the weekend.

In the meantime, Happy Humpday.

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Check out the Strange Fit

I have been mulling this around my brain pan for a couple weeks now and I finally sat down today and set it up (much to the consternation of a certain small child).  I have started a new blog.  It is called Strange Fit.  I've been really wanting to get into shape.  Not just talk about it, not just dream about it, not just sigh longingly at clothing stores that don't carry plus sizes, but actually do it.  I've realized though that, left to myself, I run out of steam way too quickly.  I recently got the EA Sports Active for the Wii and 3 workouts shy of completing my first 30 day challenge, I ran out of steam.  I got all blah and didn't do my exercise one day.  And the next.  And the next.  And the next.  Insert depression here.  I want to get out of this rut.  Obviously the way I've been doing things results in, well, not doing things.  So it's time for a change.

I have in my mind how cool this site could be, with recipes and tips for eating right and drinking more water and all that fun stuff.  I also want to do reviews of different kinds of exercise and how easy/hard they are to incorporate into every day life.  Right now, my main source of exercise (apart from previously mentioned small child) is my Sports Active on Wii.  I know there are a few of you out there who have this program as well.  Whether you're doing the 30 day challenge or not, I'd love to get together and share tips and frustrations.  We could even share custom workouts.  Eventually I hope to be able to do some fitness related give-aways. 

So come on over.  Check it out.  Tell your friends.  I'm totally open to suggestions and guest posters and maybe even team members.

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Six Word Saturday

Birthday BBBQ! Birthday BBQ! Birthday BBQ!

Okay, so I cheated. But only a little. And I do have every right to be excited about it. Especially since I went to bed early feeling poopy and my wonderful Rocket Scientist stayed up until midnight cleaning up and tidying the house. (then to add insult to injury, Asher woke up just as he was coming to bed and because we're trying to go without the paci it took 2 hours to put him to sleep and then, just as he was crawling into bed, Asher came to my side of the bed to see if it was morning yet and it took me another hour before he finally fell asleep for the night. whew. bright side is that he slept in until 7:30 this morning. So I suppose my 6 words could have been 'without paci Little Man doesn't sleep')

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On Turning 34

Okay. Yes. I am now 34. I have never really been bothered by birthdays. Excited usually. It's always been a celebration and on occasion it has stuck out as a 'milestone' year.

Sweet 16.

18 made me legal in Alberta.

19 made me legal in neighboring provinces.

20 was just plain cool. 21 made me legal pretty much everywhere.

25 was another cool one, for a lot of reasons. It was the turn of the century. And I was in Africa. I woke up on the beach in Mozambique for that one.

26 was a little depressing, partly because it meant I was on my way to 30 and partly because I wasn't in Africa anymore and I missed it terribly.

29 was exciting because I was getting married that year.

30 didn't freak me out as much as I thought it would. It was kind of fun. I was starting to feel like an adult, we had just moved to Chicago, I got a ferret!

31, meh, I just didn't think much about it.

33 was my first birthday as a Mom!

And now here we are. 34. Feeling a little old...er. I'm not sure why this year is bothering me. Perhaps because the novelty of feeling like an adult is wearing off. No. That's not right. Honestly I still always feel like everyone's looking at me like I'm 16 when in a room full of women. I have no idea why that is. I have issues. I think The Rocket Scientist has worried that I'll be sad because we're not having a big party with loads of friends. We had that last year, and it was great. It's not really bothering me, though. I mostly look forward to doing birthday stuff with Jeff. Sorry everyone, it's not that I don't love you.

But this year...I'm feeling the year. I'm more aware of time. How quickly it's moving. I'm more aware of how not in shape I am. How it seems much harder to regain a shape that I don't mind looking at.

On the other hand, I may just be hormonal. I am after all, ovulating. Ha! Betcha didn't think I could milk that for more, didja!

But don't let my whinging bother you. I really am very blessed this year. As I am every year. I have a wonderful, loyal, attentive, passionate husband and an adorable, giggling, brilliant, cuddly, awesome son. Happy Birthday to me!

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And now for something...A little Brit different

Okay, I am going to be totally upfront and say that I did not think of that terribly witty turn of phrase on my own. We are big Doctor Who fans in this house and made sure that every cable package we had back in the States included BBC America. I don't know if they said that before every program (that would have gotten old really fast), but they did say it before Doctor Who and/or Torchwood and it would always bring with it a little twinge of excitement because it meant we were getting our 'fix'.

I am now completely unashamedly stealing that phrase for my own blogging purposes. I think I'm pretty safe in this. But if I get several hundred more followers, I may have to change the name as a preemptive strike against litigation. (I have always wanted to idly fit that into conversation).

So without further ado, here is my first installment of:


Everyone asks, "How do you find driving on the 'wrong' side of the road?" Honestly, you get used to it. For one thing, you're expecting it. You know, coming here, that you're going to be driving on a different side, getting in the other side of the car, trying to remember which direction to look when you cross the street. You're prepared so it doesn't take too long to make the adjustment. It's the little things that no one ever tells you about, that you're totally unprepared for, that go a long way towards making you aware of the fact that common language or no, you are in a foreign country.

So here's on thing I noticed that is different on this side of the pond. Light switches go in the opposite direction. In North America, you click the light switch up to turn it on and down for off. Here it's down to turn it on and up to turn it off. I know, right? Who would think to warn you about stuff like that? I would. That's right, I got your back.

By the way, my inspiration for starting this is Brit Gal in the USA and her Brit Word of the Day.

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Six Word Saturday

I am an IKEA queen, yo!

Let's just say our house is starting to remind me just a little bit of Fight Club. Or at least Asher's room does. Bet you just can't wait to see pictures.

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What energy?

So I was pretty sure that I had posted something recently about having tons of energy. I'm still pretty sure I did, I can almost see/hear/feel the sentence I typed but I can't find it. Honestly I didn't look really hard, I just sort of scanned the last few posts and went, 'Meh. Too many words.' and gave up. I'm not really sure if it was just the post about being so productive/busy because I was anxious about my appointment, but I could have sworn I told you about the whole Wii Active thing. Ringing any bells? Maybe? Well, whatever. Let me start again.

When I was in Canada, I picked up Sports Active for the Wii. I love it. Doing the 30 Day Challenge. Some days it's not bad, other days it totally kicks my butt, but every day I sweat buckets so that's gotta be good, right? Anyway, a strange side effect that we've noticed is that I have a boat load of energy lately. I know. Weird. A side effect of all this energy however, seems to be that every time I sit down to write a post, I think of something else that needs to be done/picked up/washed/dried/folded/put away/played with, etc. So I've had all these posts run through my head and then run right out again. Apparently nothing has affected my concentration. Poop.

Oh, well. But I ask for your patience while I figure out how to incoporate all this actual 'doing' and 'keeping up with chores' stuff into my day which was previously filled with 'reading blogs', 'trying to be witty in posts', and 'just one more episode of Thomas Lazytown Pooh Lie to Me'. I will figure out how to do it all. Why are you lauging? Stop that!

I have to say though, that my lack of presence the last few days is because, wait for it....

Asher is sleeping through the night!!!

Yes, it would be thrilling if that didn't come with....

Asher is getting up at 5:30!!!

Yup, every morning. Sometimes, like today, he mixes things up and gets up at 5:05. It does not matter what time he goes down, 6:30 or 8:30 or anywhere inbetween, he is up by 5:30. And thanks to our brilliant idea of graduating him to a big boy bed, he just walks into our room and announces that it is now morning and why haven't you fed me yet?

So we're trying something new. We, as gently as possible, say that Mommy and Daddy are sleeping and would you please go back to your room and play. I even taught him how to turn on his lamp so he could get out his toys and play. Seriously, we should put cameras up and sell it to the networks, the comedy that is us trying gently to explain to a 16 month old that Mommy and Daddy are sleeping and he should go entertain himself.

No. You cannot remind me of this when he is 16 and I can't drag him out of bed in the morning with a team of wild horses.

And really, 'team' of wild horses? Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron? Have I mentioned how much caffeine I've had already this morning? No? Well, that's cause I don't remember. It's been a lot. But now I've got to go get my work out in before Asher wakes up.

I leave you with a reminder of how cute he really is despite his attempts to drive me insane, and a lovely rose from our back garden for us to all stop and 'smell' and relax a little. It is summer after all.

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