Done Dieting

He’s going to the zoo.  Calm, cool and collected.  Ready to tackle the world.  Or a monkey if necessary.  The anticipation is seeping from his pores.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is a man on a mission.  A mission to see every single animal that the SA Zoo has to offer.  He’s totally ready to conquer each nook and cranny, each smelly section and touch every single bacteria covered railing.  Why?  Because… “Mommy, we must go to the zoo.”

It was a late start to the day.  We didn’t actually get to the zoo until 1:45 pm.  It was hot, and gross.  I took the stroller, but mostly it was used to carry my purse.  Bean didn’t sit down once.  He was busy.  I would show more pictures of the animals, but my camera was lost by the hubby.  I’m not happy.  I digress.  This post will show no pictures of animals.

Here he is next to a waterfall in the Africa Live area.  He looks a lot like his dad in this picture.  But cuter.

Here is a picture of my BFF’s three boys and mine.  This turned out to be a nice picture.  Her boys are 7, 8 and 9 years old.  This officially makes her my hero.  I stopped at one.  I know what I can handle.  One wonderful, intelligent, creative boy.  As opposed to 3.

As soon as we loaded him into the car this happened.  I’m not kidding.  We weren’t even out of the parking lot.  He was just getting his second wind.

It was a lot of fun.  We were tired, and beat.  But nothing is better than a happy child.  Even if my version of going to the zoo is watching the National Geographic channel.

I always feel better when I laugh.  I like to start the day off with a good giggle.  I like to be funny and I always enjoy contagious laughter.  This morning, when I checked my email at work there was the funniest email.  I laughed so loud, and I almost peed myself.  Here is part of that email:

My wife and I were watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed.  I turned to her and said, ‘Do you want to have Sex?.

‘No,’ she answered.

I then said, ‘Is that your final answer?’  She didn’t even look  at me this time, simply saying, ‘Yes.’
So I said, “Then I’d like to phone a friend.”

And  that’s when the fight started…

When I read that I couldn’t help myself.  I laughed for a few minutes.  It was a great feeling.  However, I did stop rather quickly because I have a tendency to go from laughing to crying in a few minutes.  Why is that?  I’m not sad.  Is it just a huge influx of hormones or something.  I blame hormones for everything.  Well, that and low blood sugar.

I digress.  Starting the day with a laugh was wonderful.  It calmed my nerves and it made me look forward to the day.

As a general rule I’m not a morning person.  My step-father used to say that I needed a cup of coffee at the age of 11.  Truth is I started drinking coffee much earlier than that.  Thanks Tia Juli.  However, my new goal is to start each day with something funny and end it with a smile on my face.

I’m not really an optimist either.  But, I’ve been difficult and pessimistic long enough.  I’m going to look at the bright side of things.  Or at least put a happy spin on it all.

I love my mom.  She’s incredibly smart, a published author and an amazing therapist.  However, she’s not very tech savvy.  Recently, due to her business endeavors and patients needs she decided she needed a better phone. While she loved her current phone, it needed to be replaced.  It was 4 years old, which is 40 for a cell phone.   She went from this little Nokia phone which was on it’s last legs…

To this phone.

Now, this phone was not a great at all.  We were extremely disappointed with this Samsung.  Actually, it was awful.  In 4 days we determined that it wasn’t worth the price we paid for it.  Just. Plain. Awful.  It wouldn’t receive calls, it wouldn’t send messages half the time, the voicemail couldn’t be set up.  Awful.  I finally convinced her that she needed to get a smartphone, to replace the stupidphone.

So  my mom got a Blackberry.  She’s working it out.  It’s going to take a little time.  She’s smart, so she’ll figure it out.  I have 100% faith in her.  However, the learning process does provide me some giggles.

Enter the Blackberry Curve.  Coincidence that it rhymes with lurve?  Nope.  This phone is nifty.  I won’t change my iPhone for it, but it is perfect for her.  She can track her clients, appointments, emails, etc.  It really is cool.  She’s managing it quite well.

I’m really glad that she got this phone.  It will help her immensely.  I’m proud of her for taking the plunge and agreeing to get a smartphone.  I did laugh though when she asked the sales rep where the blueteeth were.  As in the plural for Bluetooth.  It still makes me giggle.

Oh, who am I kidding?  I’m easy to catch.  I don’t run very fast, I have short legs, sometimes I want to be caught… I digress.

I constantly dream about running.  All. The. Time.  It’s an ironic thing, considering I don’t run as a form of exercise.  I only run to get away from something.  Usually something with big teeth, and a ravenous appetite.  Like my husband, for example.  It’s the type of dream where I wake up with every intention of running.  My subconscious is telling me to go for it.  As soon as I try to though, I’m too aware of the fact that I suck at it.  My plan?  Get over it.

Here is what I have planned to do today.  I’m going to pick a landmark, and run to it.  Not like the Washington Monument, but like the telephone pole up the street.  I will say though, that running to the Alamo is completely doable.  It’s about 10 miles from my house.  Am I going to run a marathon this weekend?  Nope. However, little steps grasshopper, little steps.

I’ll update on how that went later.  Hopefully, not from by bedroom because I broke something.  Just kidding, that telephone pole is like two houses down.  When I say little steps, I mean little steps.

I had family in town.  I love having visitors.  It makes me feel like a grown up.  You know what else makes me feel like a grown up?  Having a 14 year old niece.  And a 16 year old nephew.    When I married into my husband’s family, I had no idea that I would like them so much.  I know that you’re supposed to love them…Technically.  But I really do like them AND love them.  I had a blast with my niece.  Isn’t she pretty?

She’s somewhere between 5’8″ and 5’9, which means she’s 5 to 6 inches taller than me.  I’m 20 years older than her.  Sheesh!  I had to swat the boys away with sticks.  A couple of them may have gotten whiplash.

While at dinner , it dawned on me that I’ve grown up a lot in the past 8 years.  When I met her she was a child.  She was a flower girl at my wedding.  Now she’s a young lady.  I felt very happy that I could take her out, buy her stuff, treat her to things, be the adult.  8 years ago the hubby and I were starting out.  We were learning about bills, and life as a couple.  I knew the day would come when we were established.  This weekend just brought it all together.  The little girl that fell asleep on my lap at the first Christmas I shared with this family, grew up.  I grew up.  I guess there are some wonderful things about adulthood that no one ever mentions.

My nephew is turning out to be a lot like my husband.  He looks like him.  He acts like him.  It’s eerie.  My sister-in-law swears that she didn’t like my husband when he was younger so there’s no way that he could be his father.  However, they act the same, look similar and eat like horses.  I tell my sis-in-law that it was the dislike that she had for the hubby at one time that made her son turn out the way he did.  There is a saying in Costa Rica: “what you dislike, you’ll bring to your house.”  We were able to enjoy his company too.  Although I’m pretty sure he got the short end of the spoiling stick.  I did get him a night of paintballing.  Hubby has the battle scars to prove it.