Yoga, Zumba and more

So, I went to Yoga the other night. Great class!! Very relaxing. It's on Tues, Friday and Sunday but I mistakenly thought it was on Thursday so Mark arranged to have his mother pick Brad up from school as she is going for shoulder surgery today. Instead of changing plans I decided to go to Zumba. What a mistake!! I walked out after about 20 minutes and used the weight machines, etc. I just was not able to get in step with the rest of the class. I am going to blame the instructor, though. :) She taught the class like everyone was a Zumba expert. Well, at least I can say I tried, right? My next step is to try Spinning. I am hoping I will like it. I am definitely sticking with Yoga, though.

I finally got all my paperwork, etc finalized to sign up for classes for this fall. All students are required to get an MMR or MMR titer prior to admission. I know I have had the MMR done previously so I chose to go for the titer. The girl who drew my blood left a nice bubble in my arm and a lovely bruise. I will definitely not allow her to stick me ever again. I just cannot wait to start classes and finally get this degree.

A nice bike ride?

Brad and I rode our bikes to his school today. You'd think leaving at 7:30am that we would have a nice, cool ride. But, alas, you'd be wrong. Ugh!! One of the major downfalls of living in Florida is that it is hot, humid and sticky pretty much 24/7 during the summer months. It's a nice little workout but I come back sweating my ass off and I didn't even ride a mile in all. I'm hoping it will cool off earlier this year rather than later. Wishful thinking!!

I'm going to my first Yoga class tonight. I'm hoping this will be a good thing. I could use some relaxation. Flexibility is always nice, too. *wink, wink*

School is back in session, Brad's birthday

Wow!! Did this summer fly by!! The kids started back to school last Monday. The first week went well but I spent more time in the car than anywhere else. Brad had swim lessons Monday-Thursday from 5-5:45pm and Cameron needed to be picked up from band practice every night at 7pm. I know most parents cannot wait for school to start but I am just the opposite, I love the summer. It saves me on gas. At least for a few weeks Brad will only have swimming Friday and Saturday as the Y is trying different schedules to what people like best. But, Cameron still has band every night until 7.

So, Brad's 7th birthday was yesterday. We had a little party with my in-laws on Saturday night. Brad originally wanted "all you can eat hamburgers and hot dogs" (his words) but changed his mind to pizza and breadsticks. Much cleaner and cheaper so I thank him for that. He also wanted me to make an ice cream cake. Well, didn't go well. First off, he had swim lessons in the morning and then we had to make a trip to Target, then pick Cameron up from his cleaning job and the in-laws house. So, this did not leave much time for the cake. It was baked in time but I did not leave enough time for the ice cream to harden after I put it in the cake so when Mark went to cut into it, the ice cream was still too soupy and squeezed out of the cake. Not a big mess but this meant no cake. Ugh!! I had to run out to the grocery store and get another cake and more ice cream. Well, Mark ended up saving the cake so we had it on Sunday. Two cakes, what a spoiled boy!! Doesn't sound like a mean mommy to me!!

Sick, Talent Show, Sick

So, I am going on day 2 of being sick. It's just off and on nausea. This really sucks!! I had to will myself to feel better yesterday so I could attend my oldest son's talent show at school. Well, they didn't call it a talent show but a talent revue. No judging or anything. I'll tell ya, that school has some pretty talented kids. Cameron plays the bass drum in the marching band and the drumline did a performance of an original piece that one of the kids wrote. The kept the stage dark and were all wearing those china doll masks that glow in the dark. The drumsticks were supposed to glow as well but I didn't see that. They did a kick ass job!!

So, here I am sick again today and Brad stayed home with me. I don't truly believe that he is sick also but I didn't have the strength to argue with him this morning. I'm just sad that he will miss the Easter Egg Hunt at school today. Hopefully, we will get to do one of our own.

I sure hope I am feeling better to be able to take Brad to ice skating lessons tomorrow morning. I hope Daddy is up to the task of waking at 7am on Saturday if Mommy is not feeling well. I guess we'll have to wait and see......

The Saga of the Toe and some more stuff

I'll start with the "and some more stuff." My oldest got his report card yesterday and I am so proud. He got A/B honor roll. I honestly don't think he has been on the honor this late in the year since elementary school (and that is not without threats and punishments and incentives). Here's the pessimist in me......I hope he can keep these grades or bring them up for his final report card of the year. He does this a lot where he will bring his grades way up and then will slack off and his right back where he started. In other news, my youngest received an award yesterday at school, the award for Kindness. He is a very sweet boy!!

And, now on to the Saga of the Toe, the Big Toe. My hubby finally went to the podiatrist and got his toe taken care of. He has had ingrown toenails off and on for years. We have been together for 12 years and I can only remember a few years when there was not an issue with his toe. My mother-in-law, his primary doctor, his boss and I have been telling him for so long to get this taken care of. He finally linked his constant state of general malaise to an off and on infection in his toe and told his boss. So, at his boss's request, he made an appt with the podiatrist. He went in for the procedure on Monday and handled it very well (except for the initial needle sticks for the numbing agent). Me, not so much. I stupidly watched the procedure and almost threw up and came so close to passing out I had to pull a chair up next to him and sit down. I still get queasy when I think about what the doctor did. He wishes that I had recorded it!! Yeah, right!! If he had seen it he would have puked AND passed out. Anyway, he is still having some pain but I can see a dramatic change in the swelling already. He plans on starting an exercise regimen once he is fully healed because the toe has really prohibited him from doing any physical activity because of the pain. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Experiment and a few other things

I performed a little bit of an experiment this morning while not really meaning to. I was not feeling well so I got out of bed to wake up my oldest (Cameron) and asked him to please get his brother ready and then wake me up so I could drive him to school. Brad's (my youngest) clothes were already set out so all Cameron had to do was make sure Brad got dressed, eat breakfast and brush his teeth. I heard no noise so I got out of bed again thinking that they were both still in bed. To my disbelief, Brad was actually getting dressed. I was able to get about an extra half hour of sleep before I had to drive Brad to school which helped my headache. Now I realize that maybe it's just me. There were no arguments, no tattling, no noise from either boy this morning. My husband can also perform the same miracle when he gets up with Brad in the morning. What am I doing wrong? I wake Brad up in the morning with kisses and tickles, just basically very sweet. But, he does not respond to that so then I start to lose my cool. Daddy and Cameron wake him up and get no resistance. Hopefully I'll get to the bottom of it before I go insane.
In other news, as I mentioned previously, most of my pet peeves have to do with driving. Well, last night I was my own pet peeve come to life. I can't stand it when people drive with their blinker on but I did it last night. I was actually kind of lulled by the noise and didn't even realize the blinker was still on. When I did......how embarrassing. Another pet peeve of mine is just stupid drivers in general. I was also one of those yesterday. I went to pick Cameron up from school and the roads over there have been undergoing construction for months now. It seems every time I go down there they have changed the direction of traffic. I was sitting at the light, waiting for traffic to pass so I could turn right. I pulled out and actually drove past the lane I was supposed to turn into and what?? there's a car in my line coming the other direction. Thank God they were stopped at the light and I was able to back up and get in the correct lane. What a dork!! Guess I'm not perfect after all. Who would have known??

Why is it that I can always think of witty things to say but when I go to put fingers to keyboard my mind becomes a blank slate? Maybe I just don't think that anything I have to say is very important. But, I do have a lot to say.
First and foremost, why am I a mean mommy? Well, I don't think I am but my 6 y/o does. My husband thinks I am sometimes, too. My 16 y/o doesn't call me mommy anymore so I am no longer the mean mommy to him just the uncool female parental unit. So, back to the main point.....I am the mean mommy because I want my kids to do their homework and keep their bedroom clean, eat healthy and get exercise, not watch hours upon hours of mind numbing television, video or computer games. I am also a mean mommy because, and this is a good one, I actually want my kids to do something the first time they are told/asked. I know, I know wishful thinking. How about the second time? I'll take that.
My 6 y/o tells me that I am always mad at him. Well, I am not always mad but I also don't have much patience. Take now for instance......he is currently sharpening his pencil when I have been telling him for 20 minutes to do his homework. He has mechanical pencils!! He knows what there is to do for homework but just likes wasting time and procrastinating. He also has to leave for tennis in about 15 minutes. How long has it been now? Still sharpening. He has moved from the kitchen with a manual sharpener to his bedroom with an electric sharpener. What is a mean mommy to do?? But, hey, I am keeping my cool.
So, now that I have proven to be a mean mommy, here's what else I am. I am opinionated (but usually just flood my husband with my opinions). Let me just clarify that just because someone is opinionated that is not necessarily a bad thing. When people hear opinionated I think they tend to think judgmental and I am not really that. Well, maybe a little. I am afraid of voicing my opinions for fear of hurting people's feelings. I have a ton of pet peeves most of which have to do with driving, spelling and the lack of punctuation people use while type typing. Mostly driving, though.
Hopefully I will keep up with this, at least just to vent and get stuff off my mind rather than sitting around and perseverating about it. I really do have a lot to say, a lot of complaints and just general stuff about being a mean mommy.