Big Announcement - The New Website!!

I'm pleased to announce the unveiling of my new website, Dear Mazzy!

You can now find my blog at www.dearmazzy.com. Please subscribe on the new site to update your reader. It's still a work in progress, but it's coming along nicely.

I wanted more flexibility than I had with Blogger, so I purchased my own domain. Unfortunately, Blogger & WordPress are not speaking to each other right now, so I've been unsuccessful in importing my posts from here to there, but hopefully that will work out soon.*

See you there!

*Hooray, I was able to export all my posts to the new site, so Good-bye Blogger!

Not the Swine Flu!

This last week & a half has been H-E-double-hockey-sticks at our house, not because of the swine flu, but because of some kind of nasty virus/sinus infection-causing-mutant. I guess Mazzy actually had it first a couple of weeks ago, because I vaguely remember her being a little less than her normal self. Since she hardly ever complains, I didn’t really realize it at the time.

Note to self: when Mazzy is “a little down” that means she’s really quite sick. I think she’s kind of like a goat, by the time they seem sick, they’re actually about to drop dead.

Jack & I got it the weekend of the 25^th, started to feel a little better the middle of last week, then just when I was starting to worry about the stupid swine flu, Jack got worse & ended up at the doctor’s office last Friday with a blazing double ear infection. The same day, Brett ended up at HIS doctor’s office with a blazing sinus infection. Both boys are now on antibiotics & are finally feeling better. I managed to mostly kick mine without drugs, but am still feeling the effects, what with the fact that my face feels like it’s about to explode at any moment.

So basically what all of this means is that I have nothing of real interest to say, except that we don’t have the swine flu.

Transition Talk Thursday

Well, well, well, here we are again at Transition Talk Thursday. I'm going to be honest; unfortunately, this week hasn't gone as well as last week.

It all started with going out to see Dr. Dog on Thursday night - no time to work out & dinner out on the town. I had Staff Development Day at work on Friday - buffet lunch (I did try to fill up on veggies & not pasta). Then I got sick on Saturday & still haven't gotten back into the swing of things. I haven't worked out since last Wednesday! That's awful! I've been halfway keeping track of my calories, but not with the precision I had the week before. So what does all this equate to? My weight has stayed the same, which I'm OK with, considering I kind of expected it to go up.

I am not going to let this bump in the road derail me from my plan. Hopefully I'll get rid of this stupid sinus infection & be able to start working out again tomorrow. I'm disappointed in myself, because I was feeling good, more energetic & all that, but tomorrow is another day.

In other news, holy pig, attack of the swine flu! Schools are closing! Celebrations are canceled! It's difficult to know what's real & what's media hype. I mean, we are in Texas, so we're pretty close to the source. There was a confirmed case in one of the local schools. There are several other probable cases in the area. So what do I do with my kids? Do I take them out of daycare? I don't want to overreact, but I also have a 7 month old baby.

I don't know the answer yet, but luckily my boss is AWESOME and I have 4 boxes of books to catalog from home, and she even sent me her laptop to use since my laptop's a Mac & can't run the software that we use for cataloging.

The only thing really holding me back from working at home with two kids is, you know, the ability to get any work done...at home, with two kids. What that really means is that I'd be up working until all hours of the night. So...I don't know what I'm going to do yet. But I'm leaning towards not overreacting & keeping them in daycare. At least for tomorrow.

Dr. Dog & Hookers

Thursday night Brett & I went to Dallas to see Dr. Dog, one of my favorite bands. This was an especially 'special' night because I haven't been to a concert since going to see Wilco in Houston last year. I was about 8 weeks pregnant & had just (that day) been diagnosed with the kidney stone, so you can imagine how wonderful I was feeling.

We like to eat at Gloria's in Oak Cliff whenever we go to Dallas. There are several Gloria's locations around the metroplex, but there's something special about the original. The food is just a little bit better & the beer is just a little bit colder. The neighborhood has begun a revitalization in the last couple of years, but it's still pretty shady - the kind of place you feel better locking your doors when you're driving around. Anyway, we got to the restaurant & were looking for a place to park, and I guess we were driving a little slowly. No big deal, there wasn't any traffic around. We found a space on the street & pulled in. I turned to open my door (Brett was driving) and saw that I was face-to-face with some ol' gal who was reaching to open my door. We both had a look of shock on our faces, and she gave a little "sorry" wave and walked away. I was puzzled for a moment as to what just happened, but Brett started laughing & said she was a hooker. I guess she didn't see me at first & thought the slow-driving man in a tan Taurus was looking for a good time.

We had a nice dinner with $3.25 ice-cold Negra Modelo's (yay for happy hour - all night Mon-Thurs!) & then headed over to the venue. They were supposed to be playing at The Loft, which is above the Palladium, but when we got there we found it had been moved to the Lone Star Room, a larger space just around the corner. The sound in the Lone Star Room wasn't great, mostly due to the empty space, concrete floors & brick walls. We missed the first band, Golden Boots, but got there in time for the Cave Singers. Didn't care for the Cave Singers...they were just boring, the most interesting going on was a drunk girl in the crowd who pissed off the singer. He admonished her with a "less booze, more weed" & eventually security led her out. Couldn't see what exactly happened, as we were standing over to the side of the stage - we're shorties, so that's the only way we have any hope of seeing anything except the tops of the band's heads.

Dr. Dog finally took the stage a little after 10:30, and they didn't disappoint. The energy that was lacking from the opening band quickly filled the room as the 5 guys crowded onto the tiny stage & rocked the place out. Onstage, bass-player Toby is the obvious energy-force in the band, bouncing around in his uniform white t-shirt & tan hat. Toby & Scott (guitarist) trade lead vocal duties, which adds yet another layer of complexity to the music. They played a nice mix of old & new songs, changing them up so it wasn't just a verbatim replay of the album mixes. The guys are so full of energy & never stop moving around the stage, I kept waiting for them to bump into each other or knock over an amp, but they were too smooth for that. It was a great show, not quite magical, but definitely worth getting out to Dallas on a Thursday night.

Transition Talk Thursday

I promised last week that every Thursday I'd give you an update on how I'm doing with my transition to flab to fab, so here's the first installment of...dun dun dunnnn...Transition Talk Thursday.

I must say, I'm pretty damn proud of myself. I took Suzan's advice and created a profile on About.com's Calorie Count site.* I've been keeping track of my calories & keeping it at 1500 a day. I really like their database & website. I've never counted calories before - I've counted points with Weight Watchers, but it's so abstract, you can't just look at something & know its value without using a dumb calculator to figure up the points. Which I realize is the whole - they want you to pay for the calculator - but in addition to costing money, it's a pain in the ass. Counting calories is just much simpler.

I've done the Shred DVD 5 out of the last 7 days, and I can tell a huuuuge difference in my endurance already. Confession time: the first day I did the Shred DVD I puked afterwards. It's gotten a little easier every day. My right wrist has been bothering me due to an old injury, so I've had to take it easy with the weights, but overall I really enjoy it. OK, I'm lying, I don't really enjoy doing it, but I do enjoy the way it's making me feel.

The hubby has gotten on board & is being supportive, which is really nice. Last night I was not in the mood to work out, I was in a pissy mood all day & was just not feeling it. He convinced me to do it anyway, and of course I felt better afterwards. He hasn't been committed to the diet change yet, but he hasn't complained too much about having brown rice & broccoli for dinner all week, and hey, can you really ask for more than that?

And the best part of all this? I've lost three pounds!!

*I'm dearmazzy if you want to follow me.

Friendship

You would think that at 3 years old, everyone would just play together, squabble a bit over toys, but ultimately be friends, right? Right?? Those of you with children older than 3 are probably laughing at me.

Every day, Mazzy comes home from preschool with a report on who is friends with who at school that day. "I'm not H.'s friend today, Mom. I'm M.'s friend." You can try to explain that you can be friends with everyone, but it's to closed ears. She doesn't want to hear that. She is admant about who she is and isn't friends with.

The usual day care pick-up routine is that Dad gets Mazzy while I get Jack. When Jack & I met them out in the hall one day, Brett told me that another girl was in the classroom crying because Mazzy wouldn't give her a goodbye hug. He tried to get Mazzy to hug her, but she refused. This just infuriated me. I do not want my daughter to be the 'mean girl'. So I made Mazzy go back in & give S. a hug. She did not want to do it, but after threatening her with all sorts of punishment, she finally did, and quietly mumbled the apology I forced her to say.

I know she's young, but the preschool cliques that she talks about frighten me a bit. I want her to learn to be nice to everyone, not just who happens to be her 'friend' that day. On the other hand, how do I know that S. wasn't mean to Mazzy, and that's why she's not friends with her? I ask her why she's friends with one kid and not another, but she doesn't know how to explain it yet.

Did I do the right thing? How do you get a preschooler to play nice?

Transition Time

Today I'm going to talk about me for a bit. I've come into a bit of a transition period lately. I'm trying to do some things for myself, which is always a good thing, right?

I'm taking a photography class, and I'm enjoying that. I've always been interested in photography, and fortunately for me, my dad always purchases really cool electronics, etc. that sometimes are over his head to operate. That is sometimes good for me, because after he gets tired of dealing with it, I get to swoop in & 'borrow' it. So what I'm trying to say here is that I now have use of a Nikon D80 digital SLR camera, and having no clue how to use it, I signed up for classes at a local university's extended education program. Probably the most important part of this is that for 4 Saturdays, I get to leave the house ALONE and be sans husband or children for at least 3 1/2 hours. Woo-hoo!

I'm also trying to get myself into shape, because holy mother of God, I had a doctor's appointment a couple of weeks ago and guess what my cholesterol was? Go ahead, take a stab. It was over 300!! That's really bad. Really, really bad. As in, I'm going to have to take medication for it bad. I've expected to have to take medicine at some point, because my mom & brother also have high cholesterol & take meds for it, so basically it runs in the family. Heredity does play a part in it, but still, I can't say I've had the healthiest diet lately. My two favorite foods are butter & bacon. Probably not the best for cholesterol. SO. I've got to really start paying attention to my diet, and not using real butter & not making a big breakfast every weekend. My doctor wanted me to wait until I finish breastfeeding before I start any meds, so I basically have until my next appointment in September to get it down or I have to take drugs. I don't like taking drugs.

I wish the extremely high cholesterol thing was my only problem, but (contributing to the cholesterol) I also need to lose a good 20 pounds. I have to. I need to get real (great, now I have Dr. Phil in my head) about my health & realize that I'm 35 years old. Not a spring chicken anymore. I am 20 pounds overweight & I have high cholesterol and I have two young children. All this adds up to a recipe for potential disaster if I don't take charge & DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ALREADY!! Enough with the excuses of no time or no place to work out and just figure out something to do and DO IT. I wish I could claim that it's "baby weight" that I need to lose, but as long as I'm being honest here, I had gained weight before I got pregnant, so I can't really blame it on that. I'm currently on Day 2 doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD, and let me tell you, she is not joking around.

One way I'm trying to get motivated & have some online support is by joining a group called Hot by BlogHer. Not that I'm actually going to BlogHer, but hey, it helps to have some support, right? If anyone else out there wants to be my buddy, email me at dearmazzy at gmail dot com & we can figure out a way to work together. Another way to keep me motivated is that each week, on Thursday, I'm going to report to you what I've done in the past week. So if I have a crappy week and eat cookies every day and don't work out at all, I'm going to tell you that. But I'm also going to tell you if I keep track of what I'm eating & don't indulge in too many snacks & do my workout like I'm supposed to. You guys have to keep me on track with your comments, ok? Is it a deal?