Smurf Boy

I HATE to get phone calls at work because normally I'm working outside, far, far away from a phone. Yesterday I had just walked into the zoo kitchen (where there's an office with a phone) when I got a radio call that I had a phone call from Logan's daycare. Crap! Daycare doesn't call unless they want you to pick up your kid! And if you have to pick up your kid due to illness, you can't bring them back the following day! At least it was 4pm and I had almost everything done for the day...

So, filled with dread, I answered the phone. The daycare woman started going on and on about Logan's pale legs. Several of the other teachers thought they even had a BLUE tint to them. Plus, when you pushed them, it turned white. But they felt warm and didn't hurt and Logan was eating and playing and acting normal and they didn't need me to come and pick him up but they knew I'd want to know and what time would I be coming to pick him up???!!!???

I think she was VERY disappointed when I said 5:30 (the usual time.) I spent my last hour at work wondering what on earth was going on and especially wondering if my blond-haired, blue-eyed boy has (GASP) pale legs!

When I arrived at daycare Every. Single. Employee. I encountered asked if I had heard about Logan's legs. When I got to the top of the stairs, the teacher who discovered the legs was waiting (relatively far from Logan's classroom) with Logan and all his stuff. Teachers swarmed around while Logan sighed, sat on a bench and for what was obviously the umpteenth time of the day, lifted his pant legs.

His knees WERE kind of bluish. I felt his legs and they were warm and looked normal other than the area around his knees that looked almost bruised. They didn't hurt him at all so I took my freak child and left the building. On the way home in the car he assured me there was NOTHING wrong with his legs. I got wrapped up in getting dinner and accomplishing all the evening chores and pretty much forgot about them.

Gene got home right after Logan got out of the shower. Logan's legs looked slightly better, but his knees still looked a bit blue. I had Gene look at them while he was helping Logan get dressed. Helping Logan get dressed in his brand new, washed one time dark jeans... One of three pairs I bought last weekend that Logan's been wearing and playing on the floor on his KNEES... The floor that has had snow tracked onto it and has probably been slightly damp,
ESPECIALLY in the area in front of the door where Logan usually plays...

LOL!!! I think we solved The Mystery of Little Bluelegs :) Hopefully, daycare will accept this explanation and won't force me to spend $80 at the doc to confirm the "bruising" is indeed dye from his cheap Target jeans!

(And for those of you observant enough to wonder, yes, my son does sleep fully clothed. He is convinced that pajamas are for BABIES and refuses to wear anything but "regular clothes" to bed. So there.)

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Happy 9th Birthday, Lynne!!!!!

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I had my second session (of three) with my personal trainer on Monday. I told her how bad work had been for two days after our first session and how I was NOT going to be in that much pain again! We spent a lot less time doing squats and lunges and spent a lot more time on upper body stuff. The next days I hurt just enough to know I accomplished something, but not enough to impair me in any way. I have my third AND FINAL session on Sunday afternoon. I will be sooooo happy to be done with that :) I'm glad I did it because I learned how to use all the weight equipment and exercise machines. I suspect that if I hadn't done the sessions, I would have limited my gym membership to the track and possibly the treadmills. Pointless!

running and diet

Since I'm completely positive everyone's been on the edge of their seat waiting for an update...

I was really disappointed with my lack of progress in running. I was still running one lap/walking one lap on the Riverplex 1/8 mile track. After my running lap I was ready to walk. I FINALLY realized I was probably running too fast because I was outrunning the diehard runners on my running laps. Yesterday I tried running on a treadmill for the first time. I shocked myself! (I didn't get electrocuted, I was just surprised, lol.)

After a quarter mile walking warm-up, I was able to run a full mile AT ONCE! I then walked another quarter mile, ran a half mile and finished with a half mile walk. I went in to do the same thing today and ended up running a full mile and two half mile stretches, with quarter mile walks before, between and after runs. Wooohoooooo! I finally have some real hope that I'll be able to run 3 miles by September :)

As for my diet, I'm still sticking to it two meals (and usually snacks) a day. I'm bad enough at making dinner for the family without having to make a separate meal for myself. Eating it for breakfast, morning snack and lunch regulates my blood sugar so I never have issues at work. I also end up eating about ten times more fruits and veggies than I did before, so I feel like it's totally worth it. (I've never had blood sugar issues after lunch.)

I've lost a few pounds but that's probably as much to do with running as diet change. Plus, I have this insane new love of Zingers. Zingers were the cheap lunchbox dessert of my childhood. The thought of them totally made me gag. Until my boss brought in a box of the vanilla ones, that is... I don't even know why I ate one- they're yellow and nasty-looking, like they should be lemon. Yuck. I think eating one was on about the same level as being dared to eat a piece of monkey chow. Turns out Zingers are now made by Hostess instead of Dolly Madison. They are delicious!!!! The chocolate Zingers are good, too! Unfortunately, I would happily eat them every day...

Logan had his third ear infection in less than two months this week. He spent Thursday night waking every hour screaming about his ear pain. Ear drops and ibuprofen did NOTHING to help. Gene and I tag-teamed work Friday (I went in the morning, Gene in the afternoon) and I took Logan to the doc in the afternoon. She said four infections in six months would qualify him for tubes. Bummer. I mean, we COULD get lucky, but I've been waiting for him to need tubes since he was born. I was hoping that since he's FIVE we might have avoided tubes. (Kaylin's E-N-T told us if we ever had a boy he would definitely need tubes so I've always assumed Logan would need them. Kaylin got tubes before her first birthday.) Logan's feeling much better and this round of (different) antibiotics isn't giving him diarrhea!!

happy little trees

A month from today is the first day of spring. I am so tired of the cold, snow and ice. Today at work I was carrying a large bucket of water in one hand and two bowls of fox food in the other. I was walking downhill and hit a patch of snow-covered ice. Next thing I knew I was on my butt with my feet above my head. My only thought was that I just spilled about 3 gallons of water and that it was 10 degrees and windy. I had to MOVE out of that water! Fortunately, I only got the bottom of one pant leg wet. I spilled the fox diets all over and had to remake them. Grrrrrr. It was a pretty spectacular wipeout. Nobody saw it :) I hate winter.

oh the ecstasy

I've been dreading the next meeting with my personal trainer since I left her last Monday. I still haven't completely recovered from the mega-workout. I've run twice since last Monday but my legs tire quickly and I walk a lot more than I run. I just got the Best. Call. Ever!!! Liz the personal trainer is stuck at home (several hours away) in bad weather and SHE had to cancel tomorrow's session. YIPPEE!!!!!!! I rescheduled for next Monday, but at least I'll be fully recovered by then. Hopefully...

The kids have both been feeling better and did get to go to their Valentine's parties at school. I couldn't believe how much candy they brought home. Logan had an entire lunch bag crammed full of candy. Blech.

Friday night we went to my niece's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. EVERYONE in Peoria must have had the same idea. I think there were 12,000 people crammed into that place! I planted my butt in a booth and played with my 6-month-old niece most of the night. The kids had a great time despite the crowds, but from now on I'll stick with going on Tuesdays when the crowds are low.

oh the agony

Whoa! I knew I'd be in pain from my personal trainer workout, but I had hoped it would last a day and be done. Nope. My thighs hurt so much on Tuesday I'm surprised I made it through the day at work. It didn't hurt to stand still, but walking, bending, crouching, sitting (the act of sitting, not just sitting there) and especially stepping up or down hurt terribly. Lifting was hard because I use my legs so much. Wednesday the pain was almost as bad, but I had a million things to accomplish. I had to help unload a meat delivery. Each box of meat weighs 40 pounds and I had to step up into the freezer to stack it. OUCH! I then had to move the extremely heavy scale to weigh a capybara and then crouch through a small doorway and step over several rope fences to move some peacocks from one area to another. (At least peacocks don't weigh much!!!)

It's Thursday morning and while I feel a noticeable improvement from yesterday, there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I would even CONSIDER any kind of workout yet! I'm upset about this because normally I would have run yesterday. I seriously doubt I will be ready to run tomorrow. I will be lucky if I get another workout in before my next session with the evil personal trainer!

I have a workout nutjob friend who keeps reassuring me that after several weeks I'll be used to the workout and will have no more pain. Um, there is NO WAY I'm going to have several weeks of pain!!!! I'm certainly no fitness expert, but I can't imagine one killer workout that makes me suffer for days is better than four regular workouts. My goal is to run a 5K race in September, NOT to be a bodybuilder!!!

I know, "No pain, no gain" but this is too much freaking pain!

The kids are both fighting off nasty colds, hoping desperately they'll be well enough to go to their Valentine's parties at school today. I got a call from the Y (school's out daycamp for Lincoln's birthday) on Tuesday that Kaylin had a headache and felt dizzy. I asked if they wanted me to come get her and they said they'd call back in a half hour if she hadn't improved. I was WAY behind at work and it would have been a horrible day for me to leave early so I called Gene and begged him to get Kaylin if necessary. He called the Y and they said she was happily eating lunch with her friends. Ahhhhh! Drama Queen behavior is so foreign to me! I can probably count on my fingers the days of school I missed due to illness and I NEVER ONCE called home for my mom to pick me up early! Kaylin wasn't faking it last night. She was obviously congested and miserable. Logan's cough is much better so hopefully he's done with being sick for a while. But judging from the note that came home from daycare...

gasp, grunt, gasp

I had my orientation classes at the Riverplex yesterday. I had three classes scheduled and it turned out I was the only person signed up. It was really cool because I had a personal trainer all to myself and she taught me how to use all the equipment, the weight machines and the stretching area. She answered tons of my questions and impressed me enough that I scheduled three sessions with her.

Today was my first session. Oh. My. Goodness. I guess I kind of imagined we'd sit and discuss what I wanted to accomplish and she'd write out a plan for me and then maybe take me through it. WRONG!!! She immediately put me on the treadmill to warm up and then took me through 50 minutes of exercises with everything from weights to lunges and stair climbing. The last exercise I had to do was scissor kick my legs for 20 seconds while lying on a mat. I couldn't help but laugh because it was sooooo hard to do something so easy. My legs hurt and felt like jello when I finished that session. I considered using the elevator to go down to the locker room because I seriously didn't know if I could walk down the stairs without falling. Good stuff, but it will be hard to make myself work that hard on my own without someone hovering and forcing me.

I somehow managed to walk all the way to the locker room and get my stuff. On the way out I decided to wash my hands. Mistake. This 70-something woman came to the sink next to me, lifted her shirt and started messing with her bra. She then went on and on to me about how she went out and bought this new padded bra especially for her workouts, but she was disgusted because you could still see her nipples! Eeewwww! Share with someone else! I think I said something like "Yeah, I hate that too." The crazy, uninhibited senior citizens in the locker room are Freaking Me Out! Of course, they also make me happy because that's how I want to be in my golden, election judge years :)

Molo the cat went home on Saturday. Before I left for work I packed all his stuff and put everything together so Gene would have an easy time finding everything. Sharon called Gene from the airport to let him know she was on her way. Gene figured it would be good to know where Molo was hiding so he went looking for him. He looked EVERYWHERE in the house and didn't see him. He looked outside and even went around to the neighbors to let them know he was looking for a missing cat. By the time Sharon arrived, Gene was FREAKED OUT. He was running around with a flashlight, looking under everything and going on and on to Sharon about how sorry he was for losing her cat. At some point Logan realized what was going on, got up from playing with his cars, went back to our bedroom and looked under the bed. Logan calmly called "I found Molo. He's under the bed." (Wow. When's the last time your FIVE-yr-old actually found something? Y'know, other than chewed gum under a restaurant table...)

Yeah. Molo was hiding in the exact spot he was in the entire three weeks he was here. Thank goodness Logan was paying attention! Sharon coaxed Molo out of hiding and took him home. That was at about 1:30pm. I got home from work at 5:30pm and Gene was still a mess. He's decided that we will NOT be catsitters again. So if you were hoping to dump your cat on us while you go out of town I guess you're out of luck, LOL.

super-duper tuesday

Someday when I'm old, I'm gonna be an election judge! It will definitely be one of my "80 Before 80" goals, LOL.

The polls opened at 6am. I walked in at 6:09. There were a couple people already at the voting machines but I was the only person checking in. The elderly woman asked my name, I gave it, and she began looking through the books. After flipping through the first two, she realized that "T" is near the END of the alphabet and that, just perhaps, my name might be in the third book. She then turned me over to an elderly man who managed to find my name. Well, actually, I yelled "That's it!" as he flipped past it. I signed my name very slowly, attempting to make my signature as close to the one on the paper as possible. The original woman checked the signatures for at least 30 seconds before she cleared me and sent me to the second table of confused elderlies.

Old Hag #2 asked "Democrat or Republican?" When I said Democrat, two old ladies at the first table cackled "Another Democrat, har har har." I will NEVER know if they were happy or making fun of me!?! Anyway, I got my number, voted, and was heading for the door when Old Hag #2 stopped me and asked if I saw the American flag? I couldn't remember seeing the flag but I assured her that my ballot had been accepted. She asked again if I saw the flag? I again told her I couldn't remember seeing a flag, but I DID see that my ballot had been accepted. She asked again about the flag. Um, NO, I did NOT see the flag!!!!! I DID see the WORDS that said my ballot had been accepted!!!!! Old Hag #1 came and looked at the machine and said "It's ok, Carol, her light is green, it's #3 that's red and that man is still voting." Oooooohhh. I then took TWO "I Voted!" stickers (just to annoy my new friends) and made my way out.

I woke Gene as soon as I got home and told him he better go vote NOW or he was gonna wait an hour or more in line. He took me seriously and left without even completing his Morning Ritual! He was glad he went early because he waited quite a while with only two people in front of him. Ugh.

The joy of sick children

Yesterday while the rest of America was settling in to watch the Superbowl kickoff, I was driving the children through a blizzard to the prompt care clinic. Kaylin had been whining about her ears hurting all day and then Logan woke from a (YIKES) nap SCREAMING about his ears. So off to the doc we went...

I'm a bit of a germophobe when it comes to doctor's offices. There were two people in the waiting room, both sniffing and hacking and making me cringe with their germy disgustingness. The kids (who spent the day lying around in agony) tore around the waiting room, touching every single thing and then putting their hands in their mouths (or each others' mouths) and rubbing their eyes. UGH!!!

We waited over an hour to find out that Logan has a double ear infection and Kaylin has an unspecified minor virus and NO ear infection!!! (I think the doctor thought I was NUTS for being soooo excited that Kaylin did NOT have an ear infection for the first time ever!) Ironically, Logan was very upset about going to the doctor and then behaved very well and Kaylin was excited about going and then forced me to simultaneously hold her down and pry her mouth open for a strep test. She fought long and hard against that two second swabbing. As Kaylin continued to bawl and the doc ran out of the room to run the test, Logan happily said "I liked that." Liked what? "I liked watching the doctor do that to Kaylin." We both started laughing our heads off and even Kaylin (eventually) found it funny and joined the laughter.

We slowly made our way to the pharmacy and then home and were all in bed asleep by 8pm. I got up early this morning and went for a "run" at the Riverplex and to WalMart for groceries. I got home a little after 7am and both kids were still sleeping. Dangit!!! They were both pitiful when they woke up so I kept them home on my beloved Monday. Sigh. Well, it's a little after 1 and they both seem much better. Hopefully they'll be well enough for school tomorrow!

Joinin' the gym

After two years of making excuses, I finally joined the Riverplex. As a park district employee I get a 50% discount on membership. I've made every excuse to stop running since it got cold and/or snowy and I NEED to start again NOW if I want to be ready for the Zoo Run Run in September. (Yes, seriously, I am THAT bad of a runner!!!) Anyway, I heard about a "couples" rate and asked my dad if he wanted to join with me to save some $. (He's been a member since the place opened.) Not shockingly, Dad DID want to save money so we met at the Riverplex last Monday. The salesman gave us quite a deal!

Since Dad was already a member my initiation fee was waived. Then, we found out the couple's rate with my discount was less than the regular single rate with a senior discount. Dad was thrilled for the savings and paid BOTH of our memberships. Thanks Dad!

I've gone three times this week. So far, I've just used the indoor track for my run/walk because I haven't taken the initiation class to learn how to use all the fancy equipment. Hopefully, I will take that soon, but since I can't get calls at work I haven't been able to sign up (you leave a message and they call you back.)

The biggest drawback to the Riverplex is that it's on the river. I keep looking out the many windows around the track and spotting bald eagles on the ice. I want to watch the eagles more than I want to run. Saturday I was watching an eagle take off as I was rounding a corner and walked into a large post. Fortunately, I was WALKING at that time! The couple walking behind me was plenty amused :) I was relieved that a friend who happened to be running at the same time was nowhere in sight!

In other news, Molo the cat has settled down and hasn't yowled or puked in over a week. Thank goodness because I talked to my aunt today and he'll be here another week. The kids love him and Logan wants him to stay forever. Um, no thanks. One kitty's enough!