Friday, September 17, 2010

White Girl Can't Dance

Until this week, I thought I had pretty good rhythm.  I enjoy dancing, frequented the clubs in college, have taken ballroom dancing lessons, etc.  While I have plenty of junk in my trunk, I have always been envious of those that can shake their junk and not look like a total moron.  Anywho, I have been proven TOTALLY wrong in thinking that I have had any sort of dancing ability by a little craze called Zumba!  I went to two separate classes this week at the Y and managed to make myself look like a total and complete arse.  I kid you not.  There wasn't one thing cute or remotely sexy and sultry about myself trying to Zumba.  Picture Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air trying to look sexy while attempting to salsa, tango and belly dance to super fast music.  That would be me- red faced, sweaty and all. 


As stupid as I looked, I will go back next week and hopefully make it to three classes.  Because while I look like the picture above, I am determined to look like the picture below:



But with shorter, blonder hair.  And a little whiter.  But you get the point.  So even though I looked like a goofball, I burned over 300 calories in each class per my Mio.  And I had fun.  And I want to learn how to shake the junk in my trunk.  I think those are all pretty good reasons to return, no? 

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

MIA, LOL and WTF?????

OK, so I know that some of you think that I might have fallen off the face of the world, but alas, I am still here!  This summer has been crazy to say the least.  With the exception of the two wonderful weeks at the Outer Banks, summer has been pure craziness at Casa de D.  And hotter than hell.  I am so ready for fall!  My chubby, white arms and legs are ready for fall too.  Oh, and my muffin buffet top is ready for fall as well.  Not that you came here to listen to me whine... So here are the key points that have made up the Summer of 2010. 
1. Notice the insanity of boxes.  Multiply what you see in this picture by about 20,000 and that's what I spent the better part of a MONTH doing.  No lie, there were 273 boxes delivered to our new house.  That's just boxes.  Do you know how hard it is to unpack, clean and put away 273 boxes of crap with a baby? 


2.  I think I will be finding and pulling these stickers until at least 2018.  While there were 273 boxes delivered, there were 404 of these lovely things.  On boxes and all the other items not in boxes.  I just found this gem the other day...and we moved in over a month and a half ago.


3.  Do I need to tell you how cute Miss K is? 


4.  A now-laughable mommy moment (no so funny at the time.  Well, maybe a little bit)- a few weeks ago, Miss K was protesting her morning nap by standing in her crib and banging on the rail.  I have been trying the whole "cry it out" or not going in at the first sound she makes when trying to go down so I let about 30 minutes or so go by before going in.  Mind you, she was not fussy or crying, just banging and talking loudly.  We had gone to the Y that morning and when we came home, I changed her diaper and put her to bed in just her top and diaper because her leggings had gotten dirty.  As I got to her crib to soothe her and put her down, I noticed that she had proceeded to undo one side of her diaper and was not only standing in a puddle of pee, but poo as well.  Nothing like a complete crib and baby strip down with midday laundry and bath time.  All that excitement = no morning nap.   It's one of those things that I again didn't learn in child birth class or any books I read.  Ahhh, life lessons.

5.  While Miss K gets cuter each day, she's also becoming more mobile which means that the D's have had to install not one, not two, but three baby gates at all the staircases!  You would think that gates at the top of the two staircases would be enough, but here would be why we already had to put a third gate at the bottom of the stairs in the great room.
She made it all the way to two stairs from the top...that's 14 stairs.  And yes, I was behind her the entire time.  Which is why we are now officially a three gate family. 

6.  I heart the Outer Banks.  Never mind that it now takes us a good 9 hours to get there, but it was well worth the trip both times.  Big Poppa and I have already decided though that next year we will either go for 2 weeks straight, or at least not twice in the same month.  That was a lot of wear and tear for us back to back like that.


7. A running update for those of you interested.  I'm getting in some runs when I can, primarily on the treadmill at the Y, but we have hit the greenway near our neighborhood a few times.  I'm still having some knee issues that seem to flair up after 5 or so miles.  Can't figure out the cause...have new shoes, had gait and mechanics analysis done.  And it's only the left knee.  Every time.  To the point that I can only go up and down the stairs one stair at a time for a day or two after.  Any suggestions or possible remedies would be appreciated!  I'm trying to avoid a doctor visit and to NOT wipe out our health savings account this summer!  One health issue at a time.

8. Which leads to the final acronym in the title, WTF?  A little medical background about yours truly: I've had stomach issues since right after college that spawned from a trip to Playa del Carmen that Big Poppa and I took after graduation.  I basically "caught" a nasty bacteria while we there, and I blew off the symptoms for a few months until it became unbearable.  An upper and lower scope showed that the bacteria had created a plethora of ulcers in my intestines, thus wrecking havoc on my digestive system.  A wicked dose of antibiotics cleared it up, but I haven't been quite the same since then.  Pair this with the fact that I have a family history of colon cancer (grandparent) which makes gastroenterologists a bit on edge and tend to error on the side of caution.  Enter about 4 months ago.  I was having some stomach issues with similar symptoms from years ago, but add in carrying a child for 9 months then having my insides removed and replaced after having such child via c-section.  I decided to be proactive and go see a gastro here in ATL and she scheduled a scope pronto after review of my medical and family history.  No ulcers, but low and behold a  polyp was found and removed that turned out to be precancerous.  WTF?  That was my reaction too.  I'm 32 years old, eat a fairly healthy diet, in good health and shape, don't smoke, and rarely drink.  I truly thought she'd say that I had some ulcers return, or at worst-  IBS.  But precancerous was not a word I expected or was prepared to hear.  At a follow up appointment a few weeks after the procedure, I was reassured that it would have been 10-15 years before that polyp would have become an issue, but if you think about it- recommended screening age is 50.  In 10-15 years, I'll be 47 at the oldest.  What if I would have held off and chalked it up to stress and all that my body has been through?  Talk about putting things into perspective.  Lesson learned- we as women have been blessed with wonderful intuition.  Although we may choose to initially ignore those little taps on the shoulder, eventually we listen to our gut.  Ironically, I believe that my "gut" saved my life.  I now have to go for a scope every five years, but this will keep everything in check.  My point in sharing all this?  Listen to your body and your intuition and be an advocate for your health. (Exiting soap box now).

I promise to be better about posts, even if they are mindless ramblings about nothing important!  If anything, you'll at least get to see cute pics of Miss K!!!