A Little Less Jiggle

Increased oxygen and burning muscles = the pleasure of warm chocolate cake, increased oxygen and burning muscles = the pleasure of warm chocolate cake... this, among many other very strange things, is what I kept telling myself this morning when I started working out again. I figure, if I can train my brain to associate the feelings I get from cake with exercise -   I am good to go!

Today I weighed myself. It has been a long time, and I won't get into it too much in this post because this is a POSITIVE post. Numbers do not matter. What matters is how I feel, right?

Why do I think I need to lose weight? (in no particular order).

• I  want to stop jiggling when I brush my teeth.
• I want to feel good about myself. I want to look in the mirror and whistle at myself every morning - not just as self encouragement, but because I am a hot chick.
• I want to wear a T-shirt without looking like I am wearing a couple of baby swim tubes underneath it.
• I am NOT Steven Tyler. To be funny... sometimes I flap my tummy fat together while singing a Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) song (For those who do not understand - he has big fat lips and I think my belly looks like big fat lips).
• "I'm tired of sweating on relatively cool days" (movie quote: Crazy People).
• I want energy!! I get tired easy. I'm 34 (April 8th) and this should not be happening yet.
• I want to be sexy... and be able to do sexy dances and wear sexy clothes... until I'm like 85. Then I might slow down.
• I'm tired of looking like the State Puff Marshmallow Man's sister.
• I'm tired of being "the fat friend." I like to make my friends feel good about themselves, but not by making myself feel bad.
• I want to be healthy.
• I deserve this!
• For my girls. The other day Madeline and I were discussing eating healthy foods so you can grow up big and strong and she said, "Yeah! Someday I want my tummy to be big and healthy like yours!!" - Heart sank right there. I am NOT being a good example.
• For my husband. He has always wanted the best for me. He takes such great care of us. He loves me so much - even when I am a monster. He deserves a hot wife.
• I look like a "tatanka" from the side. All I need is a field of grass to graze on and I could be in the remake of Dances With Wolves.
• It's the right thing to do. I have time to do it now. No excuses!

So there you have it.  Today I did 50 minutes at the gym on the elliptical, jammin' to some pretty awesome tunes.  The lady next to me kept looking at me funny because I was closing my eyes and smiling a lot.  So I looked at her and smiled and then winked and then ended with a thumbs up.  That got her to look away.

Maybe I should have done my Steven Tyler impression for her.  Next time.

STAR WARS Stuff.

Let's face it. We are Star Wars fans. This isn't something we have ever been ashamed of. We like the movies - some more than others - and we would probably do pretty well in a Star Wars trivia contest. We're not "convention" nerds, meaning we probably wouldn't go out of our way to dress up and attend any science fiction conventions - unless they were in our town or something, then we might. Or maybe in some nearby town... like no more than 100 miles away. Road trip! Woo!
I have always been a fan, but more in my later years, as I have spent time with Paul. Girls do that sometimes when they want to get a guy... they like something, like sports, more than they normally would.  It gives the perception of sexy well-roundedness. I even tried to do a yoda origami for him once. Can you guess which one I did? I didn't think so. Pretty good, right? Almost an exact replica.

Paul grew up loving Star Wars. He even knows more about the fake history of these fake characters because he read Star Wars books as a kid.  He also loves Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, The Matrix, and The Godfather... and he has watched a romance or two with me (and enjoyed it). He's a pretty well rounded fella. We really enjoy movies in general.

So when our friends invited us to a Star Wars party we were pretty excited.  I knew right away there would probably be 20 princess leia's so I would be different and go as the only other female character, Queen Amidala (There are actually several female characters like the crazy dancing girl who gets eaten by the monster because Jaba pushed her down a hole, or that jedi lady with arms on her head, for example). I've even memorized several of her lines - Queen Amidala's (and wasn't able to use them as the opportunity did not present itself - sad). I actually tried using one of the lines during the party (NERD) and as I was saying it the person who I was talking to turned away to do something else. I stopped half sentence and ended up in one of those laughs of dorky embarrassment instead. I really am a nerd. hmph. I wonder if he would have even recognized it as a line from the movie if he had heard it?  Probably not.

Do you ever do that? Do you ever plan to say something and hope the opportunity presents itself? I can't be the only one who does this.

Paul - up until the day of the party - was going to be the evil Emporor "Paul"patine (Palpatine). We ordered a mask and a hooded cape from Amazon and had them Aramexed in. Expensive, but we felt it was worth it. The girls and I helped him for a couple weeks with a couple of the Emperors lines - even Abs was walking around the house saying, "Noo, Noooo, Noooo!!!" in an evil, gritty tone. It was awesome. But last minute, and because the mask was uncomfortable and didn't fit well, we changed his costume to Darth Paul (Darth Maul).

Can you tell which one is from the movie and which one is Paul? Pretty close eh?

In this photo I told Paul to give me a growling, evil face... it looks like he's smiling.
He can't even FAKE the dark side of the force.

Awww, Darth Paul with his daughters, Princess Madeleia and Princess Abidala.

 I painted his face and made him a two-sided, red light saber out of a mop stick, some paint, and some shiny sticky paper I had. He still used the cape and then wore my abaya and a belt as a top. He looked awesome. And I do believe he enjoyed flailing that stick about when he demonstrated to the girls how to wield a light saber.

Here I am as Amidala. I should have smiled, but in the movie, when she is all dressed up in her Queen uniform, she doesn't smile. She also talks with this weird deep voice... "I cannot condone a course of action that will lead us to war." (ha! there, I said one of my lines).

We ended up going seperately.  It worked out fine. Even with a babysitter it might have been a problem because the girls don't know anyone that well and they are both still waking up at night at least once each. It would have been cruel to put a stranger in that position - Mads having a cough attack and Abigail, who doesn't take a bottle, wanting to nurse - Ha!

Paul went first for an hour or so and then I went.  I took some Bantha Fodder (homemade granola) as a treat. There was a nice selection of food. Both our costumes were a hit and I had some nice conversations with some good friends.  I also got to spin fire.  They had a friend who plays with fire come with his fire stick and fire balls. It was fun.  Picture to come soon I hope. 

May the force be with you.

What's In A Name?

What's in a name? This has been a big topic in our house the past week as our little 3 1/2 year old is showing an interest in writing! She can now write her name, and we are SO excited and proud. I love when my children accomplish something. I love it so much, I want to marry it.  I literally do the happy dance. 



Name contrasted because it was too light on the paper

Yay!!

2012 So Far: Being Outside

The weather here in Dhahran is really nice this time of year, so we have been spending a lot of time outside.  We are surrounded by neighbors with little kids around Madeline's age - mostly girls - and you will most definitely find them outside running around every afternoon until dinner time.  It reminds me a little bit of my old neighborhood growing up.

Here are some shots (taken with my Canon and my iPhone) of our fun times outside and at the surrounding parks in the month of January:



Mads on her scooter



Swingin' at the Hills park



Hangin' out in our yard



Mads harassing Abs - part of being a sister



Mads swingin' at the 5th St. park

 

\More front yard scootin'




Abs at the Kings Rd Park - first piggy tails - a monumental moment



At The Hills Park with some good friends



I love this picture... This is one great Dad :)

One of the many reasons I love living here is because we get the chance to do these things on a regular basis. We get to spend time together and be outside in nature - two amazing blessings.

2012 So Far: Abigail Turned ONE

I love that one of my children has a birthday on the first day of the year.  Paul and I never really celebrated the New Year until now. It was always,

At around 8:00pm -

"Oh, it's New Years Eve. Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year to you!"
*kiss*

"G'night."
"G'night."

And then off to dream land, with a hope in our hearts that there won't be some stupid kid who thinks it would be fun to run around the neighborhood banging his Mom's pans.

But now - because our little A has her birthday on New Years - it's a pretty big deal.  And I guess, in a way, I should recognize it a little more.  New anything is so nice. I love how people look at New Years as a way to start over and be better.  I try to look at each day like that.

My little A makes me better. Every day she reminds me of what kind of person I want to be, and she does it with an adorability that just makes you want to squeal with excitement.

On A's actual birthday morning we went to the park. A loves to play in the sand, go down the slide, and swing in the baby swing.

I ordered a bunch of balloons from the balloon lady here on camp and made Abigail a homemade cake and some cupcakes.

We had a yummy birthday dinnrt of breaded chicken, grapes, cucumbers, and noodles - A's favorites. We also invited some good friends of ours over to have cupcakes and ice cream.

Abs didn't show much of an interest in her cake. She took a couple of tiny swipes of the frosting. She even offered me a taste - she's sweet that way - always sharing. 

 

Near the end of her first cake event, she discovered how fun it was to smack the cake. She had a pretty good time doing that.

Ever since Abs could move, she has had a fascination with chairs. She especially loves her sister M's "big sister" chair that we got from Pottery Barn Kids. So, it was a no brainer to buy her a chair of her own for her birthday.

The girls had a great time playing with the huge box her chair came it. In all we used it as a boat, a rocket ship, and finally, a house. It lasted about a week. The chairs have really been a great success. The girls climb on them, make forts out of them, slide them together to make a boat, and of course, sit on them. 

Abigail's First Year

Happy Birthday to our Abigail Lily! It has been such an amazing first year. We love you SO much!

Christmas Day 2011

Here in Saudi Arabia Christmas is not a recognized or celebrated holiday.  So December 25th is a regular day.  The man loves working on holidays of all kinds because it usually means several people are off from work and he has a chance to get a lot of work done. 

I admit.  I threw a bit of a tizzy fit.  I just felt like we should celebrate ON the actual designated day together, and with The Man at work there would be no slowly opening presents together, eating a nice Christmas breakfast, playing with our new toys, watching movies, lazing around all day, etc.  So, although it was hard for him, he asked.  He got it off.  Yay!

We woke up at 5:00 in the AM on Christmas morning so we could skype with my family - who has a Christmas Eve party every year and is 10 hours behind us - and then we ventured downstairs for the opening of gifts.

The night before we had prepped the girls with a video message from Santa via PNP, an awesome website where you can customize a video of Santa with your childs name and pictures and specific information about them... it really is great.  I love Madeline's reaction when she sees herself in Santa's book and hears him speaking directly to her about her life.  We've done the PNP thing for two years now. We also made cookies for Santa, read some Christmas stories, and watch a Christmas movie. 

Christmas morning the girls were ecstatic, although Madeline's face has almost no surprise on it.  She seems to be catching on a little early (being only 3 years old) and questioning a lot of things.  Basically this means that if The Man and I wish to continue this lie with our children we need to be sneakier.  We plan to invest in a Santa suit this year for Paul and set up a situation where Mads may catch Santa in the act or something.

My family watched on skype while the girls opened their gifts, and then we said our goodbyes to them so we could continue our day.  Abigail and I went back to bed at 8:30 am (5:00 is waaaay too early for us) and slept in until 10:30.  It was pretty nice.  Then it was up to play some more. 

Paul made his delicious spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. We were able to skype with The Man's side of the family on Christmas day which was great too!

It really was a nice, relaxing and fun day, and we feel very blessed to have each other and feel so very fortunate to live the life we do.  I pray every day that others might experience the kind of joy I get to experience each and every day of my life with this amazing little family I have.  Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas 2011



Wishing all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, Paul, Edith, Madeline, Abigail and Kitty                   

Christmas Cookies

For many years I put my urge to craftify on the back burner for things like college and working full time. Now that I have a little bit of time of my hands (NOT MUCH, believe me) I am trying to fit in any kind of craftiness I can.
Hence... Christmas cookies for my friends and neighbors. It's also a really fun thing to do together as a family. Of course, this year Madeline's only interest in Christmas cookies was eating them.

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Christmas Decorations Homemade

More homemade Christmas decorations!!

Madeline and I made a Santa, a snowman, and two reindeer for our front window.  We used paper, markers, crayons, scissors, cotton balls, and tape.  Madeline glued and colored the snowman entirely by herself.

Here is a wreath I bought last year that I spruced up with some glittery balls and ribbon.  A VERY quick craft to brighten up our dreary front door.

Here is our front window display.  We have received many compliments for our efforts from kids and parents alike. Madeline is very proud of her snowman. 

I had some pine garland from last year. It was just enough for around the living area entrance and up the stair banister.  I spruced it up with cooked playdough shaped like gingerbread men and painted.  I also curled some ribbon and layed it all over to add some shine and color.

One of my gingerbread men.  I hung these guys on all the shelves in the living room and dining room area and on the garland.

My coffee filter angel tree with salt dough cooked ornaments.  And that tree skirt?  It's an actual old white skirt of mine that I have always hated on.  Works nicely as a tree skirt!

We brought our advent house with us from the States. It was one of the only Christmasy things we thought would get through without any troubles.  We purchased our countdown santa and white glitter Christmas tree her at a couple of the craft fairs they have on camp this time of year.  There are a TON of crafty women and men on camp.

And finally, we did not make this one, but it is homemade and we love it.  Our outdoor wooden Christmas tree that we bought from a friend. Her and her husband are very talented.  We bought a yard pumpkin from them at Halloween.  They plan to do stuff like this for almost every holiday.  A very smart idea in a place like this and a great way to make some extra money for whatever reason you might want to.