Month: February 2011

It’s as good a time to start as ever, I suppose.

Things are healed up enough that I can start with light weights.

I have 121 days until I’m supposed to fly away, so start the countdown. I did some cardio this morning and light hand weights. My goal is to see, with concerted effort and consistency, what small adjustments to my eating (mainly some portion control and a few different choices since I already eat a very good diet) and daily exercise of some sort will net me in increased strength and maybe a few inches lost. I just want to be able to keep up with the kids and scramble on the ruins and play like they do. To hell with my biological “age”.

So.. there it is. Project 121. Although boring to some, my blog will host some subtle clues as to my progress, but that’s not all I’ll write about. How could I?  I joined Nablopomo again for March….. and yes… I should have my head examined!!

 

I’m still slowly moving all my blogs from MySpace over to this format. I currently have over 125 blogs from 2007-present, and I haven’t even begun to think about all the blogs I have sitting over there in Multiply. Oh my!

What’s been the most fun is re-reading them. I’ll highlight the text, import the photo and then scan for content and find myself giggling or thinking, “Surely, I didn’t write that…it’s good!!”

So, I invite you to poke around in my past. Pick a few posts from the archives and maybe you’ll find one that works for you!

That’s a misleading title since I can’t eat ketchup. (Is that shock and awe I hear from you??) Ketchup has onion powder in it, and I’m allergic to onions… so no ketchup for me. Yes, my life is devoid of that tasty red condiment.. pity me…

This blog is more of an actual Catch Up .. but that’s not nearly as much fun as considering a day dedicated to nothing but a concoction made from tomatoes, sugar, vinegar and onion powder, right?

HEALTH
Since I went to Georgia and had my throat slit and my attitude adjusted (as my hubby so kindly puts it) I’ve been steadily improving. It’s amazing that I’m still married, considering this condition had been going on for about 6 years. Hubby says it’s so nice to have his New/Old wife back again. Part of the problem that little pea-sized chunk of mutated tissue caused was mood swings, depression, anxiety… all the ingredients you need for a woman to be bitchy. In fact, one of the symptom descriptions was “spouse says you are more bitchy”. How’s that for medical terminology, eh?

But now? No depression. Minimal anxiety. I even had a cycle that was amazingly calm and… well.. frankly… uneventful beyond what was supposed to happen. I feel more energized and like I did 10 years ago more often now and I know that will continue as my body adjusts and recovers.

That slit throat thing is healing up. Not the prettiest of scars, but not too bad. The hardest thing is trying to stretch the cut muscles to be able to look up again. You know when you find something a little distasteful and you pull the corners of our mouth out and back in a bit of a grimace? Those are the muscles they cut, so head rotation and mobility are really effected. Happy to say I can look both ways before crossing the street without too much effort now.

TRAVEL

Some of you may be saying, “Aren’t you supposed to be flying away tomorrow?”

I’d be impressed if you had remembered.

I was, in fact, supposed to be flying off to Italy tomorrow, but those plans were canceled. (Darn it!) The travel company didn’t have enough bodies for the tour I was scheduled on and decided to cancel the trip. I was still going to go to look at the venues for the chorus, but the company really didn’t want to follow through with that, since we’re already committed to going on tour in June, and offered us a preview trip on the next go ’round. I’m a bit disappointed, but it’s ok. This way I’m home for my son’s birthday and will go spend the day with him in Alexandria wandering around and laughing. (We always laugh when we are together)

The trip in June is still chugging away. It’s hard to believe it’ll be here in 133 days. I’ve got my bestest friends going with me, so I’m really psyched up about it all. The work to get it all together has been massive and intense, but so what. It’s Italy! The Vatican, Venice… c’mon…  The sticky part has been trying to find a way to get from Italy to Germany and back for Hubby and I. I think I’ve finally figured that out and will hopefully be finalizing those plans today.

The thought of wandering around Bavaria just makes my heart sing!! I get so excited every time I think of it.

I’m a travel whore.. I admit it. I love, love, love going new places and exploring.

Thoughts for future trips… well.. Lisa, Jenny and I are contemplating Hawaii. Hubby and I are up for Oregon – a trip I planned but never got to go on, sadly. Scotland, maybe France, and what would be a true hoot would be the trip out west to pick up a Spyder and then camp in Yosemite and thereabouts, traveling through the back roads. Don’t know what a Spyder is? Here you go….

OK, motorcycles have never been my strong love, but the thought of cruising around on this puppy, with Warm Man (hubby) between my legs in front of me is a truly appealing thought. Oh yeah.

LET’S GET PHYSICAL

I had an appointment with a personal trainer the other day. I really liked him. Thing is I have to decide if I liked him enough to pay him every week for a year. I’ve been turning this over in my head and I’m not sure why I’d hesitate to pay what is essentially the same amount of money as a dinner out for two to a trained professional that can help to motivate and guide me to a stronger, leaner and healthier me. It’s like when people try to find cheap daycare. Um.. those are your CHILDREN… you’d think you’d want to get them the best you can afford! So why am I hanging back on making the investment in myself? I’m not finished with this thought process yet. The more I think of it, though, the more I feel like I should “just do it”.

HOUSE

The basement – living portion – is DONE!! And I must say it is beautiful. I’ll be sure to post pictures when I move the furniture down there and get it all set up, which I’m hoping to do some of this weekend. I can’t believe it!

Now it’s time for some sprucing up, cleaning out and pre-packing and then it will go on the market. Thinking April/May or so.  Honestly, it doesn’t matter. I’m in no rush as far as having another house I have to move to and I’m still waiting for the universe to show my what it’s got lined up as my next home, so if it sells right away then great. If not.. I’m ok with that as well.

So, now that I’ve spewed all that ketchup – that reminds me of a silly story… I’ll finish on that note.

When Hubby and I were friends/dating, my first daughter was just under 2 years old and still in a high chair. I had made dinner for us, which was a feat unto itself since I used to say I was the only person I knew who could burn salad. The table was set, the food was served and H had run out of ketchup on her tray. I picked up the bottle and noticed that there wasn’t very much left in it, so I decided to use centrifugal force to bring the ketchup into the neck of the bottle. I stood up, and lifted the bottle as high as I could, holding the lid of the bottle away from me. Swinging my arm down as hard as I could, I was mortified to see ketchup spew from the bottle as the lid flew off the top and an arc of red splattered from the top of my mothers kitchen wall, across H and down to the floor. An uproar of laughter came from behind me as Hubby exploded into fits of coughing and there sat H. Just looking at me as if, “wth, Mom.”

We laughed and laughed…
and then scrubbed and scrubbed.

Italian Composer 1582 – 17 February 1652

When we go on tour, we like to teach as much as we can to as many as we can. To this end, and as a way to keep groups straight, I create family groups. Each family group consists of one chaperon and 5-7 children, depending on the dynamics of the group. Each family group is then given a nationality of either American, or the country we are touring. In this instance, it’s Italian. Once a nationality is established, each family group is then named for a composer of that nationality. If a student can’t remember her chaperon’s real name, they can identify themselves as Italian, or American and/or composer.

Since we typically tour on two motor coaches, one coach becomes the Italian Family bus and the other becomes the American Family bus, and a flag is placed in the window of the coach to help identify who goes where.

Each chaperon gets a book with their students information. On the front of that book, is a photograph of their family group composer, the flag of their nationality, and the birth, and if applicable, death dates of the composer. Each chaperon is asked to contact their family group members in advance and maybe even plan a small get together to help bond the group before we leave. I encourage them to include something about their new family patriarch, the composer.

While I was hunting photos and facts for all of this fun stuff, I found this video someone made to Gregorio Allegri’s  Miserere mei, Deus

Usually, videos are of a choir singing the piece or of some religious paintings, but this one featured some gorgeous photography of nature and I thought it would be such a nice thing to share with anyone who wanted to sit back, relax with a cup of something warm and let the audio and visual be a relaxing meditation of a sort. Best at full screen!