I don't have much to write about today. My best friend Steph sent this to me in an email,  and I laughed my butt off. For anyone who has made fitness part of their New Years resolution. 

A WOMAN'S WEEK AT THE GYM 

If you read this without laughing out loud, there is something wrong with you. This is dedicated to everyone who ever attempted to get into a regular workout routine.

Dear Diary,
For my birthday this year, my daughter (the dear) purchased a week of personal training at the local health club for me.

Although I am still in great shape since being a high school football cheerleader 43 years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and give it a try. 

 

I called the club and made my reservations with a personal trainer named Belinda, who identified herself as a 26-year-old aerobics instructor and model for athletic clothing and swim wear. 

 

My daughter seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started! The club encouraged me to keep a diary to chart my progress.

_____________________________

MONDAY:

Started my day at 6:00 a.m.  Tough to get out of bed, but found it was well worth it when I arrived at the health club to find Belinda waiting for me. She is something of a Greek goddess - with blond hair, dancing eyes and a dazzling white smile. Woo Hoo!! 

Belinda gave me a tour and showed me the machines. I enjoyed watching the skillful way in which she conducted her aerobics class after my workout today. Very inspiring!

Belinda was encouraging as I did my sit-ups, although my gut was already aching from holding it in the whole time she was around. This is going to be a FANTASTIC week-!! 

_______ ________________________
TUESDAY:
I drank a whole pot of coffee, but I finally made it out the door. Belinda made me lie on my back and push a heavy iron bar into the air then she put weights on it! My legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I made the full mile. Belinda's rewarding smile made it all worthwhile. I feel GREAT!! It's a whole new life for me. 

_______________________________

WEDNESDAY:
The only way I can brush my teeth is by laying the toothbrush on the counter and moving my mouth back and forth over it. I believe I have a hernia in both pectorals. Driving was OK as long as I didn't try to steer or stop. I parked on top of a GEO in the club parking lot.

 

Belinda was impatient with me, insisting that my screams bothered other club members. Her voice is a little too perky for that early in the morning and when she scolds, she gets this nasally whine that is VERY annoying. 

My chest hurt when I got on the treadmill, so Belinda put me on the stair monster. Why the heck would anyone invent a machine to simulate an activity rendered obsolete by elevators? Belinda told me it would help me get in shape and enjoy life. She said some other crap too. 

_______________________________
THURSDAY:

Belinda was waiting for me with her vampire-like teeth exposed as her thin, cruel lips were pulled back in a full snarl. I couldn't help being a half an hour late - it took me that long to tie my shoes. Belinda took me to work out with dumbbells. When she was not looking, I ran and hid in the restroom. She sent another skinny witch to find me.Then, as punishment, she put me on the rowing machine -- which I sank.

_______________________________

FRIDAY:
I hate that witch Belinda more than any human being has ever hated any other human being in the history of the world. Stupid, skinny, anemic, anorexic little cheerleader. If there was a part of my body I could move without unbearable pain, I would beat her with it. 

Belinda wanted me to work on my triceps. I don't have any triceps! And if you don't want dents in the floor, don't hand me the stupid barbells or anything that weighs more than a sandwich.

The treadmill flung me off and I landed on a health and nutrition teacher.. Why couldn't it have been someone softer, like the   drama coach or the choir director? 

________________________________

SATURDAY:
Belinda left a message on my answering machine in her grating, shrilly voice wondering why I did not show up today. Just hearing her voice made me want to smash the machine with my planner; however, I lacked the strength to even use the TV remote and ended up catching eleven straight hours of the Weather Channel. 

_______________________________

 

I'm having the Church van pick me up for services today so I can go and thank GOD that this week is over. I will also pray that next year my daughter (the little brat) will choose a gift for me that is fun -- like a root canal or a hysterectomy. I still say if God had wanted me to bend over, he would have sprinkled the floor with diamonds!!!

It has been a little while since I visited last. And what is my excuse? Well, yesterday Brannon tried to go to work, but no sooner had he gotten there they told him to go home because only 3 people were able to get to work, the bank canceled their appointment that day, and there was very little else to do. I called Richard because the kids were home from school and I thought it would be a one day thing. I told Brannon yesterday afternoon I should try to go to work for a few hours but he poo-pooed that idea. Now I'm thinking I should have put my foot down, because now on top of all that ice, we have several inches of SNOW. And of course the kids are out of school again today. Thank goodness my neighbor is a neighbor from HEAVEN and takes my kiddos for a few hours here and there if and when I ask. I can't imagine that they will send Brannon home for a second day in a row, although that would be nice, because if that happened I could go to work for a few hours anyway. I don't know why I worry, Jacob is almost 13, and with Jody and Patty here all the time, it's not exactly like he is home alone. I just don't like leaving Lauren here too, because she is only 8 (in 3 weeks, as she likes to remind me so much) and well, even though she is probably ok here with Patty, I just am not entirely comfortable with that. Anyway, I said all that to say this. It's nasty outside and I wish the boss man would just call me and tell me to stay home. But...I don't think that is going to happen, so I am making a plan B. I am allowed to bring Lauren to work, but that isn't much fun for her. She would much rather go next door to Ramona's and hang with the boys. 

So, Brannon and I bought a new camcorder this last weekend. We are so excited about it. I can't wait to get a few video clips. It's a Panasonic, and it has a hard drive, 40GB, and some other cool things. We bought it open box from Best Buy and got 50 dollars off buying it that way.  So be looking for a few fun things. I'll end with a couple of pictures that Brannon took yesterday. 

Some funny things my kids have said in the last few days:

Jacob, while eating a Tic Tac and after farting in the van last night, "Man, that is BAAAAD, I wish they would make tic tacs for my butt."

Lauren, explaining a fight she had with her cousin a couple of weekends ago: "Mom, we were tickling each other, and I think I tickled her a little too hard, because I made her pee her pants. It was only a play fight, but it turned into a real fight. She pulled my hair and hit me HARD. I started crying and then SHE started crying. It was a total disaster."

Lauren, listening to me listen to Pavarotti last night: "Mom, you and Brannon are much better singers.

Me: "Oh, that is really nice of you to say sweetheart, but I promise you that Pavarotti IS a much better singer hun."

Lauren: "No, it's not true Mom, you and Brannon really ARE better singers, I like to hear you sing BETTER."

Me: "thank you"

Sometimes they really do say wild things. 

I have lots that I could talk about, but for some reason I'm not in the mood to say anything at all. Do you ever have days like that? I tell you what though, I have caught up with a TON of my friends from high school and college. In the past three weeks my friends numbers have gone from 40 to 140. In 3 weeks. It's like everyone from Maplewood and Union got on about the same time and friend requests have been flying. I chatted with one person last night from MWA about being in college and taking A & P. It was nice. It's been great fun reconnecting with everyone. Alot of people are still living in the MN, but there are quite a few that aren't. 

We went to KC this last weekend and I got to catch up with my very dear friend Beth Ann. We weren't able to do a whole lot because I was tied to the dance competition, but we are going back up to KC in a couple of weeks and so hopefully she and I, with a little planning, can have dinner or something. Brannon and I might try to escape from the hotel this time. Money is pretty tight with all this dance stuff, entrance fees and costume fees and HOTELS. Don't get me wrong, staying in 4 star hotels is great, but the price tag....well, that I could do without. We did go to Hotwire last night and we managed to go from a comp price of 129 a room (normally 200+ a night) to 74 a night on Hotwire. That's a lot better, but with taxes and all that we are still looking at 200 dollars for the weekend for the hotel alone. And these dance weekends are NOT relaxing. These girls are up at the crack of dawn, they start dancing at 8 am and don't stop dancing until 11 at night. They get 45 minutes for lunch and 2 15 minute breaks. That's it. Lauren only had one dance last weekend, she will be in two dances in the next one. She seems to love it though, so who am I to say anything?

I did well on my first two quizzes in A & P.  Two perfect scores. That is a nice way to start the semester. I have wonderful lab partners, and my teacher is great. So far, I can't complain. And I have been studying for this class like I have never studied before. I feel this incredible sense of urgency for some reason, like this is it. It's time to stop farting around and get serious about this whole thing. I feel like I've talked about it long enough, now I just need to dig in and do it. 

So, for someone who didn't feel like saying anything at all this morning, I think I've said plenty. Happy hump day!

Sorry for the template change again. I guess apparently I was using someone's photobucket picture and I was taking up their bandwidth. When I get time to really mess around with this I will. In the meantime, bear with me. But on with the good stuff, Lauren's competition pictures:

Yes, they won the competition. You guys did so great, we are so proud of you. 

Batterties for IPods-$10.00
Snacks for weekend-$45.00
Rental Car- $50.00
Costume- $125.00
Hotel- $250.00
Entrance fee- $700.00
The family seeing Lauren's smiling face onstage- Priceless

Apparently I don't know how to read. I swear up and down that when I initially read my course information that I had a T/Th class, which I do, but thought that the lab was on Thursdays. I was wrong. Labs are Tuesday. I did pick up my books yesterday (to the tune of $350.00. Did I mention that the class is only $429.00? Sad when the books cost almost as much as the class), but only took my text book to class, thinking I didn't have lab last night. It's a good thing that I didn't need it last night. Our lab only lasted about 20 minutes, we are allotted 2 hours. We did a safety lab, where are the exits, where is the eye washing station, where are the bio hazard waste containers, the glass containers, what do you do if you spill a chemical on yourself, so on and so forth. I am relieved to tell you that I am NOT THE OLDEST one in my class. In fact, I am probably in the younger half. My class is mostly women, mostly older, all of them mothers, and almost all working full or part time. We have a few males, 1 older, retired actually and decided nursing is for him, and 3 or 4 younger males. Our teacher is wonderful and I am sure that this is going to be a good fit for me. We got to know each other last night playing some fun little games and then we went around the room at told everyone our name and major and something interesting about ourselves. We have a small class and everyone was super friendly. There was already talk of study groups and I think I will get to know some very nice people. Most of these people are in the same boat I am in. Alot of them are there for complete career changes and haven't been in college in many years, if ever.

I got my hair cut yesterday and my eyebrows waxed. She really took alot off this time, a little more than I thought she would. She cut some really short layers, which surprises me, but it's fine. It's nothing I can't live with, and it will all grow. Lauren is excited for me to get my hair long. Brannon is so happy that he has back up when it comes to ganging up on me about my hair. Brannon is telling me that I have a week of beauty planned for myself for this week. Dentist Monday, hair yesterday, nails on Thursday. I told him it was a week of pain. Dentists and drilling=no fun. Eyebrow waxing is not on my top 10 of fav things to do. And a new set of nails? In order to get a new set, they have to pull the old ones off. Again, not in my top 10 of fun things to do. But in the end it's all worth it I suppose.

Man, I'm at work and I just realized I didn't put my watch on this morning. I hate that. I feel naked. It's going to bother me all morning.

I have laundry to do this afternoon and start packing for our trip this weekend. Yay laundry. Move over Steph, you've been replaced.

Yesterday my dentist got me all fixed up. I am scheduled for a cleaning on January 23, which is funny because that is the same day Jody has a dentist appointment. No more skipping out on making dentist appointments, I have learned my lesson. I had a cavity, my first one, and it was pretty big. Luckily it wasn't as bad as it looked initially. The good news is I don't need a root canal. He had to really shot me up with the Novocaine. The first shot took, but because he had to go pretty deep, about 3/4 way in a started feeling something that wasn't so pleasant. I made a little grunting noise and he stopped immediately. He took the air gun and asked me if I could feel that on my tooth, and when I said yes, he shot me two more times, once on the roof of my mouth, which was an experience I could have done without. It wasn't as bad as giving birth though. I told him as much, and his hygienist said that some people really would rather give birth than go to the dentist. That's messed up my friend.

Speaking of giving birth, I have two ex-husbands. And I have to say, I find it odd, distrubing even, that my first ex-husband invited my second ex-husband and his mother to their baby shower. Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? Both my kids, with both my ex-husbands, in the same room togther? Normally the only time this happens is when one of my kids is having a birthday party and everyone just shows up. Oh well, what are you going to do?

That's about all I have time for right now. I'm at work and I'm getting ready to leave for my hair appointment here in a little while...

A busy week ahead

Here is my week at a glance.

Today, Monday

~MUST CALL A DENTIST. I will either call mine or my kids to see who can get me in first. I found something in my mouth we can't even talk about, it's so nasty. How I did not realize I had a VERY BAD CAVITY, I'll never know. This will be my first. I need to get into a dentist QUICK and get this fixed before this weekend. 

~I need to figure out what book I'll need for my class that starts tomorrow. Then I'll actually need to go BUY the book. I just love spending $200.00 on things like this. Can you just FEEL the enthusiasm that I'm feeling? Overpowering isn't it? 

~I have a few girly things to take care of. I need to wax my eyebrows, they are hideous. On Thursday after work and before lab I need to get a new set of nails put on. My nail tech Amy is so wonderful at doing my nails, I haven't had a new set in almost a year. Normally you need a new set every 3 months. She's that good. I love her. She will be going on maternity leave next month, so I'll have to find someone new for a time.  I also need to get some new foundation I think. I bought this Revlon kind the other day, and I think it's just a tad too light for my skin. It makes me look completely washed out. I had been using Loreal, maybe I need to go back to that. I normally use Mary Kay for everything, except I haven't used their foundation in some time. I'm sure there's a reason, but I don't remember why anymore. Maybe it's time to give Mary Kay foundation another try. In the meantime, I'll probably pick up something else. It wouldn't be the first time I have actually mixed foundations to get the right color. 

Tuesday

~First day of class. The jury is still out on whether this night class is going to be a mistake. 

Wednesday

~I am cooking the Wednesday night meal at church. I do believe I am going to make an enormous kettle of chicken and dumplings. I'm thinking 3-4 fryer chickens boiled half the afternoon to make my own stock and homemade dumplings. Probably do a salad, either asian or just a lettuce salad, a side of veggies, and dessert. I might make cupcakes, I might do cookies. I have some Oreo balls I could make. We'll see what Wednesday brings. 

Thursday

~I'll have my first lab. We get to dissect a cat (which is not going to be cool, everyone knows how I feel about cats). I have dissected many things in my lifetime. I have taken A & P before but had to drop because my class load was too heavy and I was working 3 jobs at the time. We worked on a human cadaver so a cat should be easy. I've also dissected a squid and a fetal pig. I remember my lab partner, Susan something, thought it would be cool to snap the pigs snout off. She was so odd. I hope I get a decent lab partner in this class, assuming we have lab partners. I'll also need to start packing for Kansas City. 

Friday

~Brannon will only be working a few hours in the morning so that we can go up early to KC. The kids don't have school on Friday because of Teacher Workshops, and I never work on Fridays. I will pick up the rental car (Brannon prefers to take rentals. My van is almost 10 years old and has HIGH miles. Plus, Enterprise is having a hell of a weekend special, we get a full sized car for 4 days for 50 dollars. You can't beat that). When we went to Alabama we took a rental, and it's a good thing we did because in Memphis we hit a coyote and did some damage to the car. Enough damage that the car was not drivable. The coyote took out the radiator. We just changed the car out and went on our way. Had we had our van, we would have been grounded. We are going up to KC early because we want to let the kids have a fun day Friday before competition. During competition there is NO DOWN TIME. These girls are booked every 5 minutes for the entire weekend. When they aren't practicing their routine, they are in classes. They get a break for lunch and that's about it. They start dancing at 8 am sharp and don't stop dancing until about 11 that night. That's on Saturday. On Friday night they start dancing around 8:30 at night to get ready. Sunday there are more workshops all day and then around 4 there is a big dance that all the teachers put on, and that is always very cool. Jacob will be coming with us this time. We want him to see what all the dancing that Lauren does is about. Plus, one of his classmates will also be going with her parents to see her little sister dance, so he is excited that she will be along to pal around with. We plan to take the kids to the Union Station in KC, conveniently located in the Crown Center (which is also where we are staying). We will take them to the Hallmark Place and to Science City. There is also Kaleidoscope which I've heard is fun, also in the Crown Center.  With the flu going around horribly, I hope that everyone is ok and that we have a great time. Plans are always subject to change.

A day in the life of dress rehearsal right before a big competition:

Direction from their fearless leader Matt

Getting in position

Smile girls

Concentrate

That's right Lauren, shake your groove thang...

Clap your hands

Now hold that position until the music stops...perfect. 

The dance is done, time to exit the stage. 

This is how we spend our free time...

I had both of my nieces over right after New Years. Only one of them, my 4 year old Madison, agreed to be in pictures. Here we are reading to the cat. 

She's up to something. 

Hey, I could put this on my foot. 

But these would much more fun to put on my Uncle's ears. Nice earrings babe. 

My thoughts exactly...

It's going to be a busy day in the Estis house today.  First thing this morning I have to be at my mother's house to feed her animals. They are in Tucson Arizona on a conference. Then I have to be at the office early because I have a client coming in to sign a bunch of things before HE heads out of town. I have to pick up my jacket from the dry cleaners because it's freezing this morning and I didn't have my jacket yesterday and it was miserable. 

This afternoon I have to finish cleaning out Jacob's room. I really should make him do it himself, but the last time Brannon made Jacob clean his room, he just created more work for me. Next time I supervise. Lauren's room is just as bad. I had plans over the New Year break to get all this stuff done, but with Brannon and I both being down with the flu, NOTHING got accomplished. The kids will be with their dads this weekend, so MAYBE I can get a fews things done around here on Saturday. 

I still have several tubs of Christmas decorations sitting around the house. Those really need to be put away.

Tonight at Girl Scouts I get to show up for Cookie Training. Yes, they don't just hand you off with an order form and tell you to get to selling, there are RULES. Cookie sales start Friday, and we are NOT allowed to take early orders. So, starting Friday, if anyone needs Girl Scout cookies, you know who to contact. Ironically, I just finished off the last of the frozen Thin Mints last night. 

I had VERY BIZARRE dreams last night. The scary kind. I don't like it when that happens. Even though I have been up for almost an hour now, I have this eery kind of sense of dread, like I need to be looking over my shoulder because something awful is about to happen. I hate that. 

Time is of the essence this morning, I guess I better get after it. 

Yeah, I'm not stressed or anything. I only spent about 3 hours on the telephone yesterday afternoon trying to get this college thing sorted out. I'm still not registered for classes because apparently I don't have a student ID. The college thought it would be a great idea to shut down completely until just a few days before classes start, and as a result, the phone lines were so clogged yesterday you couldn't get through if your life depended on it. I was able to get ahold of ONE person who was very helpful in my decision making process on which class of A & P to take. Thank goodness I at least have THAT part figured out. I'm hoping that this afternoon I will have better luck getting through, that the email that I sent yesterday will be answered, and that I can get registered and forget about this whole thing and just focus on going to class next week. Have I mentioned that I am less than thrilled to be going back to class? I so just want to be done with my degree. 

In other worthy news, but not so much, New Year's was a bust this year. Brannon and I both had a stomach virus that lasted 48 hours each, with several days after that where our stomachs were still jacked up. Thank goodness we didn't pass it on to the kids. We had plans to go to Doug and Regina's house (like we do every year) but I was home in bed and asleep by 9. Lame. 

I'm almost done taking down all the Christmas decorations. I think I have decided that next year we need a new tree. The one I have now I have been using for the past 14 years. Even though our living room is bigger here than at the last house, the space where the tree sits just doesn't house it as well. I have a huge basement though and I could put the tree down there next year. Nothing wrong with having the WHOLE HOUSE be festive, instead of just a few rooms upstairs. I'm thinking about it. The first year in a new house is always the hardest because you don't know where anything goes, and decorating takes four times as long because you keep moving stuff around, hmmm, maybe it will look better here, no, that doesn't look good, let's try it over here, and so on and so forth. 

I'm glad the holidays are over and we are able to get back to our normal routine. Lauren has been practicing very hard, we go to her first dance competition in Kansas City in two weeks. They are so much fun and it's fun to get away for the weekends. 

Wish me luck this afternoon trying to get registered for class. 

I am trying very hard to get this whole college thing figured out. I have applied at several different colleges and I've been accepted at all of them. Now I am simply trying to decide where it is I want to get the dreaded A & P out of the way. I think I am leaning towards OTC. They only offer 8 different actual A & P Classes. Now if I could just narrow it down to which of these 8 classes I want to take. St. John's school of nursing was of no help either. They said that all the A &P classes will transfer. Thank you, that helps me out alot. So, with that said, it is off to the websites I go. 

Our holiday in review:

Jacob very well may need therapy after his visit with Santa

There was plenty of brotherly love (in the pj's that grandma made for them)

Awwwwww

We saw lots of Christmas lights about town

The house was decorated and a fire in the fireplace

There were plenty of presents

And lots of family present

Cookies were left for Santa

Everybody got what they wanted. 

So this year I am starting something new. I think I have worn out my welcome with Diaryland. I can't host imagines, therefore my layouts are always lacking something. I don't want a gold membership so that I can post pictures, and I don't know if it would be as user friendly as Blogspot. Out with the old, in with the new. I am keeping Diaryland for posterity. I still have a few kinks to work on here on Blogger (like, how do I right align my Flickr, if anyone knows, please let me know) Now I can post our lives in pictures, since I did receive a SWEET camera for my birthday last year, and we have alot of fun with it. So here's to a great 2009 and lots of pictures.