Longest post....EVER

Okay, so I went to the gym this morning at 9:30. With your membership you get a consultation with a personal trainer. I was excited: until my hips started killing me last night. I think I did too many high impact activities yesterday. Anyway, I was contemplating all of the excuses I could call the gym with to get out of my "consultation".

8:30 a.m.: Me laying in bed, thinking of excuses. Phone rings. It's my trainer confirming. Sure I'll be there. Ugh. Then I drug myself out of bed. Maybe exercise would help.

9:30 a.m.: I arrive at the gym with Adrien...after much cajoling to get him out of the house in a swift manner. He was throwing all sorts of fits: mostly about not being able to put his own sock on.

I get there, with Adrien successfully dropped off in the Kid's Club, and I meet Millicent. My trainer for the day. Wow, I thought, don't kill me. She assured me that she was just doing a fitness profile.

And that's all we did.

For an hour I had to answer questions about what I prefer to eat, how much I exercise, my medical history...whether or not I'm prone to constipation. I mean, seriously...bowel movements? I'm too busy paying attention to my son's to worry about my own, and on top of it, who wants to tell someone else (without a PhD) about it. Gosh.

Needless to say, this whole little thing took an hour. My hour. The hour that I thought I'd get trained. I wanted to work on a routine. But I guess you only get that when you're paying. After all, this was my one free consultation.

At the end she asked if I was interested in personal training. I told her no, because it costs too much. I was just being honest. That's when it seemed to trail off, and she informed me of a $49 6 week "Biggest Loser" program -- that conveniently isn't offered after tomorrow (whereby the price goes up to $99). I'd get to work with her for a few weeks, a few times a week. It really is a deal...but $49? I wanted my one hour of hell for free.

Well poop, I guess it's back to the ellipticals and treadmills. I did get a login name and password for some program online that calculates how many nutrients and calories I'm getting, etc. You put in what you've ate and how much exercise you've done that day and it tells you what you need to eat more of (or less of) and how many calories you're shovelin' down a day. I guess that's cool. But ya know...I wanted hell. I wanted to feel the burn, not be asked questions about how much I go to the bathroom and whether I prefer pork chops to veggies.

This whole gym thing is new to me, I joined last week. A friend of mine is a member and she had a pass to join for the same rate she pays (around $30/month) plus no sign up fees or contracts, etc. I've been wanting to get back into shape. I don't want to be Aerobics Barbie or anything, I just want to have more energy and feel stronger. I used to be a runner. Throughout my later elementary school years and partially into my middle school years, I ran Junior Olympics track. I used to run track in school (up until 9th grade, and then I quit but tried again -- unsuccessfully -- my senior year). Now I can't even run a half mile without wanting to fall over...If I can even manage to run the whole thing. On top of it, I gained 60 pounds while I was pregnant. I'm nearly back to my pre-pregnancy weight (how old is Adrien now?), but I still have a whopping 6 pounds to go (JK about the "whopping"). So it's not that I want to lose weight, I just want to be more fit.

I think another reason I joined the gym is because it occupies time. It occupies at least an hour a day, and if I'm keeping myself occupied, then I won't be thinking about the obvious. I like that they have a Kid's Club; unlike some over-attached crazy mommies who never want to be away from their children, I think it's healthy for all parties if there is a small period of separation. Momma needs her time, and baby needs to learn that Momma will come back. It's trust for them, and breathing room for you. Everyone wins. As you know, I've recently started to knit. This is also a great occupier of time. Blogging ranks up there too. Whatever I can do to keep myself busy is great for me. I just hope I don't run myself ragged trying to keep myself occupied. I just really don't want to slip into that depressed slump again. If I find ways to enjoy myself (like those yoga classes at the gym I want to take or my knitting), then maybe I'll be too busy enjoying myself to get sad and stew.

Not only are nearly all of my every day friends pregnant, my Mom called yesterday and informed me that a friend from high school is due December 29. She's glowing she beamed to me...I replied a little snarky, but honest all the same: That's great, Mom, but I'm sure under all that glow she's constipated and got horrible hemorrhoids. My mom sounded a bit put off when I explained my lack of desire to hear of more pregnant friends. I'm happy for her, yes. But spare me the details of her gorgeous belly. I'd just started to show when my baby was snatched from me. My mom also got a little annoyed with me when I was visiting her. For some reason she felt the need to show me pictures of my Grandfather's wife's two kid's brand new babies. I have respect for their joy; but I wish my Mom would respect my feelings a bit more regarding the subject. She should understand; she's had many miscarriages. I'm sure there are many who feel annoyed with my present state of mind: but I don't really care. You can have some compassion or leave me the hell alone. Choose one, I don't really care.

Anyway, what else has been going on lately. I don't feel like I've been blogging too thoroughly about my day-to-day life lately. Every post is either a (meager attempt at a) scathing editorial on moms or me pouting out loud. Hopefully you all looked at my flickr account to see my pics. If not, do so now.

The Halloween costumes were made by Andi's mom. I haven't had time lately to sew anything...actually I don't think I've sewn since I made my wedding dress. We were the Rubbles from the Flintstones and Adrien even won "cutest kid's costume" at our play group's bash this past Saturday.

As I've said before, the Renaissance Festival was a blast. It amazes me how much differently I view the place now that I'm grown, as opposed to when I was a kid.

We've been thinking of putting our house on the market. Not so much that we think it will sell, as much as we just want to move. Our neighborhood is not bad, it's just not what we wanted it to be. We had the house built, and have only lived here since August of 2006. Andi and I really fear that our value will drop the longer we live here. The builder that built our house pulled out of the development a long time ago, and had sold the remaining land to another builder. A few weeks ago we noticed for sale signs in front of the new builder's model homes. Not to mention the fact that the new builder doesn't seem to have sold many homes or home sites within the neighborhood. Both builders have spec homes in the neighborhood that are unoccupied and not selling. We've also noticed some homes that seemed to have been foreclosed on since we've lived here. Those foreclosed houses have been snatched up by various real estate agencies; but all the same, there they sit. So, yes, we're worried that we're going to lose money on our house. At the time we bought, we didn't know anything about buying a house: or what we wanted. We were apartment renters, but knew we needed something a bit bigger with a baby on the way. As the cost of renting an apartment rose in Dallas, we found that we could buy for far cheaper every month. So we bought. We built. We have a cookie cutter house, but it is located right across the street from a brand new elementary school. I mean, that's got to count for something, right? We're just really worried about not being able to sell, or selling for less than we bought for. Do any of you know anything about real estate? We need help. Really, we need advice. We're going to start looking at other homes in the area...but our home is nowhere near being ready to sell. I can only imagine that our second hand furnishings would further push to diminish the selling power of our home. We have put laminate flooring in the office since we've moved in. Ugh, I dunno. It's sort of mind-numbing.

And other than that, not too much has been going on. Our anniversary is coming up this next Sunday. This next Sunday is also my first week to teach Sunday school for my class at church. I've got to find time to get together my lesson. We're going to be reading a book Eyes Wide Open, Looking for God in Popular Culture by William D. Romanowski...but I still need to go over the chapter and pull some discussion topics.

So I guess that's it for now.

Oh, and I joined NaBloPoMo, so you'll get a saucy little post from me every day in November. I apologize ahead of time.