30 Day Challenge

I'm embarrassed to admit how long it's been since I last used my Wii.  I got Wii Fit when it first came out.  And I used it, but I got bored with it.  Same exercises over and over and over.  When Wii Active first came out I got that one too.   That seemed more my speed.  A dedicated trainer who worked out with you giving you a specific set of exercises to do.  I need more guidance.  Left up to myself I only played around and didn't get much out of it.

Active has a 30 day challenge feature.  Each day the trainer gives you a full workout. Some days are more aerobic than others.  Each day is a full workout.  You work out 2 days, rest 1 for the full 30 days.  Starting each challenge gives you the option of easy, medium, or hard.  You set goals as well based on the number of calories you want to burn, number of workouts you want to do, and number of hours you expect to complete.  It's a great tool, if you actually use it.  No, it's not the same as going to a gym and working out with a real trainer.  I know myself well enough to know that I won't use a gym membership, even when my company will pay for it if I go 8 times a month.  This can be done in my own living room, a much more appealing thought.

Today I started a new 30 day challenge.  Once again I'm repeating the easy challenge.  Even the easy challenge gives me a workout.  Less face it, accountants don't get a lot of exercise at work.  The only part of me getting a good workout is my hands and fingers, as my carpal tunnel shows.  I've been slowly changing my lifestyle.  I started with my diet.  We've been eating healthier and watching our portion sizes.  Today started the exercise portion.  I didn't want to start too much too fast. I knew I wouldn't keep up with it.  This way, hopefully I will.

Injured

We've had a few injuries around here lately.  First, Ronnie's computer didn't get injured so much as it died. It was 6 years old, it was probably time.  That's like 90 in computer years, right?  That's why my Halloween pictures are so small, I had to take them from a Facebook posting to get them on the blog.  I couldn't download pics for a few weeks.  His motherboard went out and we finally got it replaced.

My left wrist is injured as well.  I was told about 10 years ago that I had tendentious in that wrist.  It would hurt from time to time, but for no more than a week at a time.  At the most.  It's been hurting for close to 6 weeks now.  It's carpal tunnel.  I have a wrist brace that I have to wear all the time.  And I'm taking a high dose anti-inflammatory.  I hope that it works.  I go back in a month.  If it's not better I get to see an orthopedist.  My doc said if I go see the ortho, he expects me to have the surgery.  That the surgery is really the best way to fix the problem long term if the less invasive way doesn't work.

I write with my right hand, but do most other things with my left.  Wearing the brace is a major pain.  It hurts if I wear the brace or not, but I'm wearing it to give it a try.  I'm trying to learn to do things right handed.  Like brush my teeth and eat.  Both are very hard for me.  But I'm trying.  I do try to not let it affect most things.  It's hard to type, but I still do it. Today we're going to play with Bob the Builder again.  Then go to Chick Fil A for lunch.  It's in the mall, so I think we'll do a bit of shoe shopping.  Paige needs a pair of winter boots.  She loved her boots last year.  And technically it is winter, even if we are still in the upper 70's.  It's too cold for her to keep wearing flip flops all the time.  Time to replace one favorite pair of shoes with another.

They're heeerrrrreeee

When I got home today, I saw this on the door between the two sides of the house.

Yeah, not exactly what I was hoping to see either.  Wendy was kind enough to warn us at least.  I've changed up a plan for Saturday so we don't expose anyone else to the flu germs.  So far only Marc is sick and we want to keep it that way.  It's the regular flu and Paige has already had her flu mist, so I think we're good.  She's also already been closely exposed to the flu and swine flu and she's not caught it.  Let's hope it stays that way.  I can handle being sick, but do not look forward to a sick baby girl.

Patience

What I need right now more than anything is patience.  Paige has been horrible today.  And I don't mean just a little bad.  I mean in bed 2 hours before her usual bedtime because she's been so bad.  Daycare told me they've never seen her this bad, and she's been bad there before.  She was so bad that before we left daycare she had lost TV, computer, and snack privileges.

Today's issues?  Standing on chairs and sticking out her tongue at her teachers.  Or how about telling her teachers no all day.  Or coloring her arms and legs with orange markers.  She looked like an Oompa Loompa.  Those were just a few of her transgressions.  We talked about it and she understood that she would not be getting any treats today.  We also talked about her not sticking her tongue out and how it wasn't nice, all that great stuff.  Sounds good right?  Yeah, you don't have a 3 year old.

We got home and went straight to the bath.  I wanted a little girl, not an Oompa Loompa.  As she was getting undressed, Paige started sticking out her tongue.  I told her to stop before she got a time out.  She laughed at me.  She got a spanking and a time out.  Then she got a bath.  As Ronnie cooked supper he and I watched Top Chef, which we love and she hates.  Evil Mommy and Daddy, huh?  She still wasn't listening so Ronnie told her that if she kept not listening, she would go to bed early, with no stories.

You guessed it, she didn't listen.  Our kitten Ronan got fixed last week and Paige isn't allowed to pick her up.  Paige picked her up, then fell with her.  Ronan is fine, but I do like to be careful of her stitches.  Paige was sent to bed at 6:15.  Her usual bedtime is 8.  She's called us a couple of times.  I went in once, Ronnie went in once.  Now we're just ignoring her.  She's fine.  She's safely in her bedroom with her flashlight and book, laying in bed.  I can hear her moving around.  I know she's safe, but I'm also not going to feed into her little need to procrastinate and push our buttons.

It could be the weather.  At least I'm hoping that's it.  We're being hit by Tropical Storm Ida right now.  Sometimes weather can affect people.  I've had a headache from it all day.  Paige was stuck inside all day and didn't get to play outside.  She would live outside if we would let her.  She may be getting a bit stir crazy and acting out.  Could just be she's 3 and hates to listen.  Whatever has caused it, I hope it goes away soon.

Girly Night

Ronnie is working late tonight.  This happens every couple of weeks or so.  Most nights all I heard was "I want my Daddy."  I got rather tied of hearing that, so now we have Girly Nights.  When Daddy works late we do something special and girly, just for us.  It can be something simple, and can be done with things around the house.  No special prep is required, and I don't have to go buy anything.

Tonight we ate a most unhealthy dinner.  I went through the deep freeze and pulled out stuff we like that we hardly ever eat, or only eat in moderation, and made a full meal of it.  Tonight I served french fries, pizza rolls, egg rolls and garlic bread.  To make it better we ate at the coffee table watching TV.  This was a huge treat as it's something we've never done.  We always eat dinner as a family at the table.  And we ate on paper plates.  Something else we don't do.*

After dinner we took a shower together.  Paige did a good job of washing Mommy's back and helping wash my hair.  We put on robes and moisturized our legs.  We sat at the vanity and blow dried our hair then put on lip gloss.  Now we're sitting on the couch watching Go Diego Go.  We'll be snuggling pretty soon.

*Mommy disclaimer:  I don't feel so guilty about dinner.  Just before I started heating the fries Paige ate her Flintstones vitamin and ate 2 fresh picked satsumas.

Water water everywhere

And not a wall is dry. Over the weekend a pipe burst at daycare. It messed up the kitchen as well as the staff bathroom. That was easy to fix. It's the 2 inches of water throughout the school that's caused the problem. Yep, 2 inches of standing water. The walls were soaked, as well as anything on the floor. Servepro has been out since Monday trying to get the school dry. You see, they can't reopen as long as the walls are still wet. The longer they're wet, the more likely mold will grow, and the kids will get sick.

Huge industrial fans have been brought in to dry the walls. They're also using the directional blowers that blow concentrated air. Today they added dehumidifiers. They've also removed the baseboards and drilled holes in the wall. This way the air can get into the wall and hopefully dry things out.

Daycare has been closed all week. We're hoping it reopens tomorrow. Ronnie took off Monday, I took off yesterday, and Aunt Wii took the first half of today. I worked an early 6-12 shift in order to take the afternoon off. If they're closed again tomorrow it's Ronnie's turn again. I'm just waiting for that email telling me they're open for business as usual tomorrow.

Halloween

The party was an absolute blast! We had about 15 kids here, and plenty of adults to help out. Ronnie and I took off work Friday so we could start getting ready. He built a graveyard where the garden used to be.

Some lattice work intended to go around the shed became a haunted house. We used these things and a few others to create our scavenger hunt.


We started our afternoon with painting pumpkins and making hand print bats. Then the kids ran wild in the backyard playing on the swingset and with the outside toys. We had a fun round of Pin the Heart on the Bat. Then finished off with the scavenger hunt. We got creative with this. Instead of assembling goody bags to give each child as they left, we used the goody bag items as prizes. When the parent and child found what they were looking for, say the graveyard, they got a stretchable skeleton and added it to their bag. Once they found each place, they had everything I was going to put in the goody bags.


By the time the party was over, the kids were getting a bit tired. Paige and Jude relaxed on the swing with their cupcakes.

We ended the evening with some great Trick or Treating. This year we dressed as pirates. We let Paige pick the theme, then we all dress the same.

We set out to do some serious candy grabbing around the neighborhood. We planned ahead and got the stroller from the attic, just in case. Daddy manned the stroller as we hit the houses.

By the end of the evening, we had one already knocked in his stroller.


We had a lot of fun, and I wouldn't change anything we did. Now that we're recovering, things are getting a bit more normal around here. Well, as normal as they can be with daycare closed for 2 days, but that's another blog.