Some kind of ‘fess up Friday

not a writer:

- I got out of bed in the middle of the night this week and wrote a little flash-fiction story. That was very surprising. One minute I’m trying to sleep, the next I’m downstairs on my laptop in the dark and cranking out a little story. I’m calling it fiction even though in its beginning stages it was about 95% true, but I don’t think there is such a thing as flash-memoir. Or even if there is, after revising it’s only about 75% true, so fiction it is!

Surely there must be other writers in the world who get out of bed in the middle of the night to write, right?

- The novel continues to be written. 21% done. I don’t know how to measure it’s progress, actually. I just have this idea of a final number in my head, and I know what I have already written, officially, which is two chapters and about 23,000 words. But then I have a huge amount of notes and random scenes for the rest of the 11 chapters, but not counted officially because as the story gets written for real, who knows if they’ll actually stay or not.

I guess there are probably about a hundred ways to write a novel. I guess beginning to end isn’t really my style.

not a housewife:

- My novel seems to have eaten my housekeeping skills, and it generally looks like a disaster around here unless I’m in the mood to avoid writing for some reason. But I did discover that I can iron hubby’s work shirts during Grey’s Anatomy! That will get it done at least once a week, which is much much better than never.

Speaking of, I thought last night’s GA season finale was pretty darn lame and cheesy, and I’m pretty darn lame and cheesy myself, so that’s saying something.

totally not a YMCA member:

- But I did walk outside about 5 days of the week, so about 15 miles. I really have been meaning to get to the YMCA to workout, and Dylan loved playing there with the other kids, but I just can’t bring myself to take the car during the day with gas being so expensive like it is. It’s already a 20 mile round trip to hubby’s work and back, so to drop him off would make 40 miles in one day, and being the tree-hugging hippie that I am, I just can’t bring myself to do it. I wish I could talk him into arranging some kind of carpool once or twice a week and leaving me the car. You reading this, honey?

That, and he wont let me buy a bike to ride around town with Dylan, since you know in Detroit, cyclists are worth bonus points. Even more than old ladies with little white fluffy dogs! But I think that with gas being as expensive as it is, a lot of people will be biking more. I already see it. I’m all ready for a big fat car boycott, but *sigh* hubby puts his foot down.

Sweets from my valentine. (note the grubby little hand going for my chocolates )

If this week could be defined in one word, that word would be CHOCOLATE! Even before Valentine’s Day, my dear husband brought home FOUR boxes of Girl Scout cookies. He didn’t know that we are boycotting the poor girl scouts for their use of hydrogenated oils, but besides that, who did he think was going to eat them??? Because you know, if you have Samoas in the house, they have to be eaten immediately! So I did.

He is obviously, very, very sweet to me, so we forgive him.

But the best thing about today is that I happened to discover my old weight tracking charts this morning, and I found that right now I am smaller at every point on my body than I have ever been in the last five years. (But maybe not after I finish all of this chocolate!) Even though I do weigh a good five pounds more than my lowest weight. Hell, I’ll take a smaller waist over five pounds on the scale. Here is where it pays off to be the kind of nerd who keeps charts of her weight and measurements dating back almost five years.

I hope you all had a happy and indulgent Valentine’s Day

This is part of my practice I guess. Write something. Anything at all, just to get the cogs in my brain turning. Any writing is better than reading emails and mommy boards. After I clear this junk out of my head, maybe I’ll write another paragraph of fiction, LOL!

It is 7:10 and I have only just sat down with my first cup of coffee. Dylan will be awake any minute now. I actually don’t even have that much time anyway. I have to get our stuff ready to go to the Y.

Yes, I have joined the YMCA!!! They have free child-watch which Dylan absolutely loves. And their treadmills are like running on a cloud! I like to go in the late mornings, when it is mostly older people and other moms. There is a nice absence of beef-cakes at 10 a.m. I’m still finding it really weird to exercise in front of other people since I have been doing it at home for so long.

Dylan is getting older, his naps slowly diminish every month like the days get shorter in the fall. He will be two this summer. And then someday he wont be taking any naps at all. And Good Lord, I want to do this all over again with another? Yes, at least one more I think.

This, my friends, is why there is preschool!

Parenting (and keeping a sane mind while doing it) is a constant state of revision. Nothing works for very long and then you’re on to the next challenge, the next puzzle to figure out.

We kept our bedroom door closed this morning so that maybe Dylan wouldn’t hear our alarm clocks. It’s now 7:30 and he’s still sleeping. So now what to do about the neighbor who starts up her janky car about now every morning and runs it for 15 minutes?

Today, in its entirety, was spent helping Dylan birth molar #2 into the world. We will name it Oscar, after his favorite-of-the-moment teddy bear.

In other news, because the rest of the world does go on, even if this household is teething - Tuesday marks the end of a 12-week “Biggest Loser”-type challenge I have been leading on one of my mommy boards. It has been so much fun to share my enthusiasm and little bits of knowledge with those wonderful ladies, and they have been the support and camaraderie that I needed to lose 11.5 pounds and almost three inches off my waist.

I’m not usually one to boast, but I feel pretty happy about this. I still have 34 pounds to go, but I don’t doubt I’ll get there. It’s just a matter of time now. Exercise has become a part of my regular routine. The bad habits have been changed. I noticed it especially over this Thanksgiving holiday, the desire to fit in workouts even though I was busy, and the freedom to eat what I wanted without eating too much.

It’s not about the diet - it’s the lifestyle. It’s the healthy choices you make every day of your life because you want to. Because it feels good to. You hear these kind of things over and over again, and then one day, like now, they finally make sense.

From the November 2007 issue of Women’s Health,

In a study published in Physiology & Behavior, researchers found that exposure to temperatures above the “thermoneutral zone” — the artificial climate we create with clothes, heating, or air conditioning — decreases our appetite and food intake.

This article talks about laying off the AC in the summertime, but we can also relate this to winter. A lot of us are trying to skimp on the heating this winter, whether because of high natural gas and oil prices, or because we want to do our part to save the planet, so don’t forget to throw on a warm sweater and some socks. We are not bears and we do not need to hibernate! So keep warm, and avoid your body’s natural instinct to pack on the pounds!