Octo-Mom Overload

Aren't you tired of hearing the saga of the Octo-Mom? I have to say, I am. Especially since I was home for 3 solid days this week with strep throat! What!? I thought only kids got that. Oh well. I am mui bueno now. Especially because I am a mere 3 hours away from Girls Night Out. Woot!

Anyway, back to Octo-Mom... I don't like that name but at this point, whatever. When I first heard about the new octuplets being born I remember thinking that it had to be a mistake. Who in their right mind would allow a women to carry eight babies at once? And, what woman would willingly want to have octuplets? Sure, this isn't the first time mega-multiples have been born. There have been many "famous" multiple births that have turned out just fine thank you very much, Suzi! I think the sextuplets on "Jon and Kate plus 8" are cute. Sure, Kate is crazy batty, but I actually like her. I think she's a great mom. Jon could use more spine sometimes, but whatever. He's doing fine. Yes, they've benefited financially from having sextuplets, no doubt. But, you know what, they aren't hurting anyone, they aren't asking me for money, and they seem happy and well adjusted. Good for them I say.

I tried not to be too judgemental when all of the news started pouring out on the Nadya Suleman. How she's a single mom with 6 KIDS ALREADY, with no house, no job, etc. The thing that made me batty was that she HAS 6 KIDS already. Yikes. Now she has 14 kids. How on earth will she take care of them? How will she transport them all!? HOW WILL SHE AFFORD TO CARE FOR 8 PREEMIES!?!?!? So many questions... I feel horrible for those 8 little babies. They didn't ask for this. Her parents certainly didn't ask to care for 14 kids during their retirement years. Geesh.

I think everyone is at their saturation limit with her. I think she's clueless and clearly delusional. She tries to psychobabble her way out of these interviews with Dr. Phil and everyone and it's just ridiculous. You know she's getting paid for these interviews and you know what, fine. Pay her. Maybe it'll help fund her children's care. Or her next Botox injection. I dunno. Just. Go. Away.

Rant over.

Excuse my absence...

Sorry for being MIA lately. I started feeling a little tech-overload last week and tried to step back from the blog and Twitter and my BlackBerry a bit. There's only so much screen time your brain can handle.

So, today, I am home from work. I am sick. Really sick. Like, my head hurts, my throat hurts, and my neck is killing me. I hope it's just a cold and nothing serious. I can't sleep at all. Ugh.

Anyway, here are some super-exciting tidbits for you:

• Did you watch the Oscars last night? I thought it was good, better than previous years. I am glad those that won did although I must confess I have not seen a single Oscar nominated movie, except Wall-E. That's one thing I miss, going to big people movies and really getting involved in the story. However, High School Musical 3 made my top five list of 2008. If only by force because I predict I will watch it over 100 times during 2009. My best dressed of the night: Anne Hathaway. Simply Stunning. Worst: Beyonce. Enough said.
  
• Kaitlyn lost her first tooth yesterday, we think. It's been so loose all weekend and we've been trying to get her to pull it out. So, yesterday, Jason took a look and sure enough it was gone! She left a note for the Tooth Fairy and in return, the Tooth Fairy gave her $3. She's beyond thrilled.
  
• I am watching Real Housewives of various counties today on Bravo while I am dying. First was NYC and now Orange County. I can feel my brain shrink as I watch. Ugh.
  
• I did receive some really good blog design advice on the last post, so thanks! I am so happy that I have all of these resources available. I am working on my blog-lift and hope to have it up and running soon.
  

OK, so that's it. I'll be back posting later this week once I feel human again.

Pinkvanillacupcakes.com, baby!

I did it. I bought my domain name today. Pinkvanillacupcakes.com. Surprisingly, it was still available! ;) I’ve been toying with doing this for a while. For a few reasons. 1)it’s easier for people to remember than pinkvanillacupcakes.blogspot.com; 2) it looks more “professional” to potential advertisers (or so I’ve heard); and 3) it’s cool. I own my own site! My old blog address (pinkvanillacupcakes.blogspot.com) will redirect to pinkvanillacupcakes.com so there’s no impact to any of the readers or links to my blog. The next step will be for me to find a new host other than Blogger. I don’t see that happening for a while because it’s pricey and I don’t have the time to invest in that right now. And, Blogger works just fine for now. Maybe later down the road. I am also working on redesigning the site. I think it looks a bit cluttered and crowded. It needs more white space and I think the font is a bit bulky. I am looking at other websites and have found some templates/styles that I like. I’d like to try and design it myself, but again, it takes time and patience. Both of which seem to be in short supply lately.

If you like your blog template, where did you get it from? Was it free? I am not opposed to paying for a good template. It’s worth it if it’s done right. If you are a blog designer and think you could come up with a good design that speaks to my site and what it’s about, let me know. I’d love to see what you have. If you’re a reader and you have some ideas about what makes a good blog design, let me know, too. Lord knows we’ve all stumbled across some doozies out there. ;)

10% is everything

I am on a mission. I want my 10% key chain. Huh, you ask!? In WW, if you lose 10% of your starting weight, you get a nice pink metallic key chain thingy. It’s quite nice and when you reach other goals, you add little “charms” to it. You wouldn’t believe how excited people get when they get that damn little key chain. Well, I am sick of wondering what it would be like to earn it—I am going to earn it this time.

Losing just 10% of your weight isn’t that much really, but it’s very rewarding. Click here to learn what losing 10% does to your body... (go on, I'll wait!)

Also, breaking down your weight loss target into smaller, more manageable chunks, is helpful psychologically. You aren’t staring at that huge hurdle in front of you. And, really, that hurdle is different for everyone. I have a bigger hurdle than other people in my meeting, and a much smaller hurdle than others, too. It’s all relative. I need to focus on the smaller successes for right now, as I get easily overwhelmed and discouraged if I focus on the larger goals. I am focusing this week on following the program more closely. June is approaching and I am trying not to get discouraged by my lack of real progress. I need to just stay focused on doing as good of a job as I can and keep trying harder. I never try harder, I usually just quit or stay at the same level. So, breaking through that will be huge for me. I am also working on mini-goals, too. Just to improve my goal-reaching skills. I am setting up a simple reward system, too.

Every 5 lb loss, download new music on my iPod
Every 10 lb loss, a pedicure
Every 20 lb loss, new something (whatever I need at the time—new shoes!? New outfit!?)
Goal! Trip to Disney World and celebrate with J and the girls. (tentatively set for next year so I better get my butt in gear!-hey, that rhymes!)

What are some other goals that help you keep progressing to your main goal? Every 5lbs? 10lbs? Size? What are your rewards?

Happy Birthday Tree!

Today is my friend Theresa's birthday. She's been my friend for as long as I can remember and I miss hanging out with her.

So, in honor of Theresa, I am devoting today's blog post to her. This is what I think of when I think of you and our long, storied history:

• Orange shag carpeting and mirrored walls (but only in the best way!)


• Riding my bike up to your house with my sleepover stuff


• Sitting in your Chevy Cavalier in the garage while it was running and thinking it was so cool that you had a car when you were 15 and you knew how to drive it up and down the driveway


• band


• sneaking out of your house to drive around aimlessly to look at all the houses on Fairway Drive


• Taco Bell @ 2 am (nacho bell grande with just meat, beans, and cheese, please)


• Hanging out at your first apartment and the summers spent doing nothing and everything


• Going to your mom's office for McDonalds and making her get us lunch.
  
• Your endless advice and patience (I sure could pick them back then, huh!? Ha!)


• Your mom and her laugh (I can still hear it)


• Our limo trip to the Flats up in Cleveland for my 21st birthday


• Your wedding


• Always regretting not having you as a bridesmaid in my wedding


• Our few and far between visits when I come home. Can't believe you live right by where we grew up. So cool.

These are just a few of the great memories I have. When I think of my childhood/teenage/college years, I think of you. You are amazing and I am so glad you are still in my life, even if it's mostly via email and Facebook. ;)

So, Happy Birthday to my forever friend. I hope you have a fantastic day.

Love, me.

Avoiding American Girl...for now

********

Scenes from a Saturday afternoon...

Kaitlyn: "Mom, can we go to the American Girl store?"

Me: "What Kaitlyn? You want to the Merry Go Round store?"

Kaitlyn: "No! The American Girl store!"

Me: "Huh, the American Turtle store?"

Kaitlyn: "Forget it, Mommy!"

***********

Phew, crisis averted. Ever since the American Girl doll store opened up in the Mall of America, I've been nervous that the girls will want to go there and then they'll fall in love with these dolls, the outfits, the accessories, the HAIR SALON!, and I'll end up in debt and with a monster headache.

We've been to the mall a couple times since it opened and we've managed to stay outside of the bright red vortex of evil.

It's just a doll store, you say? Sure, you can say that, if you are okay spending $90 on a naked doll. Naked because it costs extra to clothe them apparently. Doesn't it? Ugh. I am sure at some point the girls will get their hands on one of these dolls--hopefully by way of generous grandparents or aunts. I just have a hard time paying that much money for. a. doll.

I don't know what it is that has caused such a visceral reaction to these dolls. I guess it is because I feel like this whole American Doll racket is being marketed to death and that we as parents are just suckers who fall into the trap. I am not faulting other parents or family members who buy these dolls, they are really nice and they are very well made. I just don't want to be one of those parents with the $90+ credit card charge for a doll. At least right now. This is so not like me. I am the one who buys the kids toys and clothes and books and art stuff whenever I am at Target, without fail. There's just something about this store.

I feel used.

I feel like the American Girl doll people are laughing at all of us parents who get sucked into their grip. Like, "Ha, just hand me your wallet and credit cards now. You are going to be here for a while..."

Perhaps if we weren't on a spending freeze because of the economic uncertainty that swirls all around us, I would probably be more open to getting these dolls. I have to admit that I am sooo their target market. I'd probably even buy one for myself. However, times are tight. Well, sort of--we're making them tight so we can build up a nice reserve in case one or (gulp) both of us gets the ax at work.

So, maybe when the economic black clouds have lifted I'll give in and get the girls these dolls. But until then, I'll try and change the subject every time she asks to go there, I'll throw away the American Girl ads in the newspaper, and I'll avert their eyes to any American Girl ads or storefronts in their purview.

That might buy me some time.

It's Twitteriffic!

I am now on Twitter. I twitter? I tweet? I’ve tweeted? I am of the twittering!? Interesting. I joined twitter months ago but never really did anything with it. I thought you could only use twitter on your BlackBerry if you use SMS text messages—which my plan doesn’t include (who needs them anyway with Gtalk, email, etc?). So, I never really used it. Well, duh, turns out you can use twitter via the web. Who woulda thunk it? So, I spent last night reintroducing myself to twitterland. I found a cool app for my phone, Tiny Twitter, which is web based and displays all the tweets (?) in a nice UI. So, off I go.

Twitter, however, has caused my robot to short circuit. As if my BlackBerry wasn’t enough of an obsession, I’ve now added this stupid Twitter thing to it and it has sent him into a tizzy. A cute little robot tizzy, but still. So, I think we’re going to have to set some new “no BlackBerry zones” during the evening and on our morning commute so that everyone stays happy. I am the first to admit that I love love love my BlackBerry. I love hearing that familiar chime of a new email or a new Facebook update chirp. I have a total Pavlovian response to it—I have to check it. It could be really important!! The day that I was the featured blogger on my fave site, SITS, my BlackBerry nearly melted in my hands from all of the new emails I was getting. I finally had to turn it to quiet so I wouldn’t be constantly reading all the new comments while at work. Luckily I was busy all day in meetings that I had to pay attention in so that helped!

Going back to Twitter. You may wonder what all the hubbub is about. Who cares what I am doing this. very. second. Well, no one and everyone. It’s all in how you say it. 140 words or less. And, I am more interested in what others are doing—you can follow other people’s twitters (tweets!?). So far, I am following Tina Fey, Britney Spears (of course!), Shaq, and Dooce. The rest are friends. It’s fun to see what Tina Fey is up to (she ate a Carmello bar for lunch the other day). And, Shaq (he’s in San Fran at Alcatraz sightseeing—go figure!). That info is priceless! J And, you can reply back to them with your comments about their tweets (was that Carmello bar good, Tina?).

But, I think it’ll be the most fun keeping up with my friends and family on Twitter. Ahem, that’s assuming they SIGN UP FOR TWITTER!!!!!!!!!! And, if you twitter, follow me, too!

Okay, off to tweet. Twit. Twerp?

I am still learning the lingo.

Thinking ahead to June 1st...

Today is February 1st. In 4 months it will be June 1st. Summer. Warm weather. Shorts, skirts, and bathing suit season. So, in 4 months, or 16 weeks, or roughly 120ish days from now, will I wish it was February 1st again so I still have time to really get in shape for summer? I hope not.

I am trying to remind myself that the more time passes and the less progress I make towards my goals, the crappier my summer will be. It has happened every year. I get to June and I get frustrated at my lack of progress and I wish it were February again so I could really focus on this and work my ass off, literally. I hate to say it but it's shaping up to be another disappointing June 1st. Unless I shut up, suck it up, and try and remind myself that I need to work NOW (well, yesterday!!) and quit bitching, slacking off, and just being a complete moron.

I re-read a lot of my posts and I kind of feel weird about some of them. I talk a good talk, but I haven't really done what I said I would do. I DID, however, clean out my closet and drawers and got rid of 3 huge bags of clothes. My closet is bare and my drawers are just about empty. It's a great feeling. I highly recommend doing this--but don't take too long to think about what you want to keep, WHY you want to keep it, and be brutally honest with yourself.

Tomorrow is Monday and it's going to be a busy week. I am hoping to get a few really solid workouts in this week and focus on keeping track of what I am eating and drinking more water.

:)

Hey, all of you Wii Fit owners... do you like using the Wii Fit? Is it part of your workout routine? What do you like about it? Is it worth the money? I don't have a Wii (yet) but I am really trying to decide whether it's worth the money or not. If you have one, let me know what you think!